Symphony of the Damned: The Prologue
by Archon's Voice
Summary: An AU of Mass Effect 2. The story explores how history can be changed by a single step in the wrong direction. This effort will feature some old characters as well as several new characters coupled with a plot that only superficially resembles the game.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first work of fiction so bear that in mind when reading. Depending on your reception this work could become a full, novel lengthed work spanning the entire game. Be forewarned that the path I intend to have Shepard follow is completely different from the game, much darker and, I hope, more realistic.(Don't get me started on the what is realistic in science fiction debate) I invite frank and honest comments on my work and writing but most of all enjoy the first chapter.

The places names and characters in this work which are property of EA/Bioware are of course their property. Anything else and any other names, places and concepts are my property.

Prologue

In retrospect it seemed like a stupid move but, as one instructor was so fond of reminding her, hindsight was 20/20. Couple that with the fact that humans were far from the most rationale beings in the galaxy and you were left with the lethal combination that had left her in this mess. Yes she was well and truly doomed by that one glance over her shoulder. Commander Emma Shepard was left floating away from her last command, the _SSV Normandy,_ with nothing but her not so intact hard-suit and about 90 seconds of air left to her. At least Joker had made it out alive she reflected.

A milk run into geth space with the most advanced ship in the Alliance navy hadn't struck her as being particularly onerous. She remembered Admiral Hackett's recorded briefing. Show up, surprise whatever geth raider had been preying on shipping near that uninhabited garden world whose name she could never remember. Come back and wave the flag. It sounded so simple on paper. Certainly simple for a crack frigate with the hero of the Battle of the Citadel on board. The reality had been far from simple. She had been going back to her quarters after checking in with Tali near the engine core. The quarian engineer had finally addressed herself to the _Normandy_'s most glaring flaw: the elevator between the ship's bottom two decks.

She smiled at the memory of simple problems with simple solutions.

While she had been heading back to her quarters with anticipation of getting some rack time with a certain bookish asari she had felt the tell tale judder of the Normandy dropping from FTL into realspace. For half a second she considered heading up to the bridge deck to check on their progress but shoved the thought away. It wouldn't do to be seen undermining Pressly's authority. Plus she was _really _tired and her watch had lasted for the past 8 hours. Eight very boring hours of watching the mottled sky of FTL, filling out fuel consumption reports, performance evaluations and tactical readiness drill procedure forms. Ahh, the ocean of bureaucracy that had beset her life since taking command of that ship.

If anyone had earned some R&R it was her. In fact the one week of leave granted to the crew after the attack on the Citadel certainly had to be a joke at her expense by the Alliance brass. One week and then the crew was back on the firing line. In reality heroes were in short supply and it wasn't helped by the fact that she was being sent to do the job that any alliance cruiser could perform. Little could she have known at that very moment she was echoing the exact sentiments of a certain raven haired Cerberus operative.

She had just reached her cabin door when her musings were shattered by a sudden impact to the ship that sent her flying into the bulkhead beside her cabin. She had experienced shell shock stemming from concussion before. First during the Blitz and then later again on Virmire but this time it had a particularly surreal quality. Her hand came away from the back of her head bloody and the clinical part of her noted that she probably had a concussion and would have one hell of a headache the next morning. Another impact rocked the ship sending her flying into her cabin door. Assuming she survived until the next morning her brain corrected. The part of her that had survived the past several years as a soldier had finally settled in and it was all business from there on in. She rushed into her cabin ordering Liara to suit herself up noting, that in fact, the asari was already in the process of doing just that. She snatched the first hardsuit out of her closet, mentally thanking whatever deities were out there that she and Liara shared roughly the same body size and that in a pinch they could share armour. Hustling the dazed archaeologist out of their quarters the two made for the system display panel towards the fore of the crew compartment.

The situation couldn't have been much worse. Barriers gone, hull compromised, core approaching critical and weapons offline. Liara abruptly chimed in that section was losing atmosphere. Both women quickly donned their rebreather helmets and sealed them shut. By this point fires were burning throughout the deck caused by ruptured power conduits and engine coolant fluids. Shepard hastily tossed Liara an extinguisher along with the order to put the fires out and the query of who was left on board. Liara responded that it only seemed to be Joker and that the rest of the crew was making for the escape pods. Shepard remembered ordering her to get herself to one of the pods and how she would handle Joker. There was so much she had wanted to say to Liara. How much she loved her. How much she wanted to have a child with her. How much she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her. In retrospect she thought that these thoughts must have been simultaneously prescient and fatalistic. Instead they had to both be satisfied with a brusque interchange. Liara went her way, having the good sense not argue, and Emma the other.

Joker was one example of a man who took a relationship with an inanimate object a bit too far. Shepard loved her ship just as much as the next skipper but Joker took that to a whole other level of obsession. Now she was stuck wading through the vacuum of the upper deck as the ship pinwheeled across space. Shepard finally reached the pressurized fore-section simultaneously thanking the designers for the redundant power for the vacuum barriers and cursing Joker for being such a pig headed fool and not leaving the ship like any sane human being would do.

Fine one she was to talk about sane human beings considering what happened next.

The words of the hurried conversation eluded her in her present state but she finally convinced her pilot that the ship was doomed and that there wasn't any point in him dying along with her. It was just then that the bright light of weapons fire lit up the cockpit casting it into stark relief. The particle beam had a deadly beauty as devoured the deck in its relentless stride towards them. The survivor part of her mind sprung into action, hustling Joker into the pod. Ignoring his complaints about his arm she practically threw him into the pod and was about to climb in herself when she stopped. What possessed her at that particular moment to turn around and look at the particle beam was beyond her and probably beyond an entire psychology faculty. Turn around and stare she did for just a microsecond. Just a microsecond was all it took for the beam to rupture some fuel cell or coolant tank and create a massive explosion that sent her hurtling into the bulkhead. She hit with a rather impressive crunch. Thanks to the hard suit she hadn't broken her back but she had likely broken several ribs with the impact. The pain was intense and it seemed like the hard suit computer was fresh out of medi-gel or painkillers but more likely broken. Shepard fought through the haze of pain and the zero gravity to the Pod release controls. She remembered thinking that she had to trigger the pod before she could rest and somehow she hit the button, though she couldn't remember how and when. She dimly recalled someone calling her name as she let go of the bulkhead.

Drifting in space with just 30 seconds to go she made a mental note ask for a refund for the whole "life flashing before your eyes experience" she had only gotten the last 20 minutes and they weren't something she particularly wanted to remember. Her thoughts drifted to Liara and she found herself wondering what the asari would do now that she was gone. Would she move on? Would she even remember Shepard when she had become a Matriarch? Would anyone remember her? Shepard began to hear the sound of laboured breathing and suddenly realized it was her own. Living with death had always been a reality for her as a soldier but it didn't quite seem as real as it did now. She felt herself beginning to drift away as though falling asleep. The pain seemed very far away now as if on the very verge of her being. Her sight focussed on the stars and it shifted towards the planet as spun through the vacuum. Stars again.

Planet.

Stars.

Planet.

Stars.

Blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A big thanks goes out to my first two reviewers! Your comments have inspired me to continue to post this story. Since this chapter is so short it will be followed, rapidly, by Ch III in which we finally switch from monologue to dialogue and the existing plot of the game is left behind. As always reviews are welcome and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Chapter II

Most people just don't wake up from being dead. Commander Emma Shepard wasn't most people. Halting the Batarians during the Skylian Blitz, some would say single handed, fighting the geth on Eden Prime, having an alien marker download a distress signal into her head (that had left her with more than minor throbbing), becoming the first human Spectre, going on a minor odyssey across space to find the rogue Spectre, Saren, and finally confronting him on the Citadel all while staving off the invasion of a genocidal race of machines, falling in love with Liara and then dying in a most anticlimactic fashion over a backwater planet. Shepard's life was anything but normal.

She remembered Ash asking her if she had ever had a normal day.

"Once. I think it was a Thursday." She had replied.

She found herself wondering what Ash was doing now and whether or not she should have asked if Ash had any messages for God since she had just happened to be going that way. A cold fear immediately struck her. She was dead. She had been most certainly dead, air gone floating through deep space. So what was she doing having conscious thought now? Had she ended up in heaven? Why was it so dark then? Was she in Dante's inferno, on some level especially picked out for human spectres?

The thoughts began to come more furiously like a tidal wave of panic. That panic manifested itself as an urge to wake up. As though trapped in some sort of lucid nightmare where she knew she was dreaming she tried to move her hand only to find it restrained. Other hand same result.

This triggered another series of rapid-fire thoughts. She could feel her hands. A clinically proven fact was that dead people cannot feel their hands. In fact they can't feel much of anything. The logical conclusion was that she was not dead. A nagging demon in her psyche chided her saying that she could very well be dead and that this was part of her tormented afterlife. Shepard had never been one to buy into the whole notion of heaven and hell and preferred, when possible, to believe the evidence of her five senses.

Since she could feel, she thought, then she must be alive. Had it all been a nightmare?

"Then what are you doing tied to your bed?" The demon was back, determined to spoil her upbeat mood. It also happened to be right. She didn't usually sleep with her hands tied to her bed. This problem would require the use of her other senses.

"She's waking up" A voice somewhere off in the ether said. Voices were a good sign. Another sense reporting in to say that she was most assuredly alive. The voice seemed to be, for lack of a better word, concerned.

"She's reacting to stimuli, showing an awareness of her surroundings." Another voice chimed in.

Shepard's eyes flew open but she seemed to be having a lot of trouble focussing. It was all just a white blur. The fact that she could see was all the proof that she needed that she was still alive. She wrenched her hands free of her restraints. Her body was a mass of agony but she pushed herself to get up. Wherever she was it couldn't be good and if she was in the hands of whoever destroyed her ship in the first place she didn't want to stick around to find out what they had planned for her. She felt a hand pushing her back on to the bed.

"Shepard, try not to move. Try to stay calm." It was the first voice again this time followed up by a dark blur. The blur resolved itself into the face of a raven haired woman with a set of startlingly blue eyes. Shepard felt certain she would have remembered a face like that. That meant that she was a potential threat. The panic was getting worse now and the voices were moving further away.

There was a sudden flash in Shepard's vision as though she was traveling through a mass relay without a ship. The light began to resolve itself into a semi corporeal form but its features remained indistinct. Her mind was suddenly filled with a sense of inexplicable calm. A soft voice whispered through her consciousness but she couldn't make out the words. It was as though they were being spoken in another language and then, suddenly, the meaning came to her. It was telling her to be at peace.

She cursed herself. Now she really had gone and done it. She had had a panic attack and died. In response, her consciousness filled with a soft laughter that was not her own.

"Died? Far from it." The voice said, "Now you must rest. Your questions will have answers but you must find me first."

With that final comment Shepard's tenuous grip on consciousness fled and she knew no more.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: As promised Chapter III. To quote the immortal words of Dalek Caan "one will die" and it isn't Wilson.

Chapter III

A klaxon was never the most pleasant way to wake up but it was a relatively common occurrence for a military brat like Shepard. Some one was calling her name and it sounded suspiciously like the raven haired woman from before.

"Shepard, I need you to get up! Come on!"

Shepard blinked her eyes open and sucked in a great breath of air. This confirmed one thing to her. She hurt all over but most especially in jaw.

"Come on Commander. The facility is under attack."

As if to underline the truth of the statement the room shook sending Shepard flying off her bed. Now she really did hurt. Picking herself up, she surveyed the room. A standard infirmary with all the normal medical machinery, at least that's what it looked like to Shepard's untrained eye.

"There should be a pistol, your armour and a comm in the locker nearby."

The disembodied voice certainly was helpful there was no denying that point but it was beginning to get annoying. Shepard never liked being led about by the nose, a condition that she was intimately familiar with. She hauled herself over to the locker but to her dismay found only a standard uniform with some unknown markings, a pistol and a communicator. The armour was nowhere in sight. At least the uniform had a barrier module which was better than nothing. She hastily shed her medical scrubs and donned the uniform. A cursory check of the pistol revealed that it was missing its heat sink. The only thing that could make the situation worse was if the communicator didn't work. It actually did which made a marked change in her luck thus far.

Shepard triggered the comms device.

"Did you get the pistol and armour?" Came the immediate response.

"An empty pistol and no armour. Is this your idea of a joke? Who are you anyway?"

"Miranda Lawson. What do you mean there wasn't any armour?"

"Gone, as in the opposite of present is what I mean." Shepard replied acidly.

"Damnit. There should be a heat sink in the next room until then you'll just have to rely on your biotics"

"Any idea what I'm up against?"

"Standard security mechs. Most aren't that dangerous for one of your abilities."

"You do know I have about a million questions right now?"

"I promise I'll answer them all as soon as were out of here. Fair?"

"Fine." And with that Shepard signed off. In a room with an empty pistol, a kinetic barrier, and her biotics and not knowing where she was, she silently prayed that her luck had changed.

Triggering the door release she peered into the next room. At least it seemed clear. It also seemed to be a waiting or observation room for the infirmary that she had just left. Checking a nearby locker she found a box of heat sinks. She pulled one free only to be confounded by the miniscule writing on the side that the sink was only rated for 12 shots from a pistol. When she had died heat sinks lasted forever though you would have to let the weapon cool after about 5 shots. She mentally cursed the arms manufacturers, consumerism and the market economy as a whole as she stuffed the contents of the box into the various pockets of her uniform. This could only be a sneaky ploy by which to separate her from her hard earned credits by forcing her to buy heat sinks for every shot she fired.

Proceeding down the room with a loaded weapon she had almost reached the door when it exploded inwards pelting her with debris. Standing in the rubble was a human sized combat mech. Shepard did the first thing that occurred to her and flung her hand forward enveloping the machine in a dark energy field and hurling back into the room from whence it came. It exploded with a satisfying thump. At least her biotics still worked. She continued down the hall only to see several corpses.

She had never gotten used to seeing the dead but she had learned how to focus in order to get the mission done. From the position of these corpses it looked like they had been trying to escape when they had been shot in the back. Growling with anger at the cold blooded ruthlessness of the machines Shepard steeled herself and continued her weary trek down the hall. Hearing weapons fire she quickly took cover and peered around a corner only to see a man wearing a uniform similar to hers being gunned down by a trio of mechs. Shepard let off a hail of pistol shots downing two of the mechs. The other proceeded to open up on her position with its own weapon. It was handily dispensed of with a quick biotic slam which crushed the unfortunate machine into its component parts.

Shepard was completely lost by this point and it was only by chance that she managed to stumble into a large atrium where an armoured figure was firing at a large group of mechs. Shepard sprinted to the cover where the figure was huddling. It turned out to be a human man with the same symbol on his armour as she had seen on all the personnel.

"Shepard. I didn't think Miranda would have you up and about at this point."

"I don't know who you are or who Miranda is. I certainly don't know what I'm doing here or why I have a bunch of mechs shooting at me. Frankly it's beginning to get to me, so why don't you fill me in?"

"Right, this is all new to you. I'm Jacob. Jacob Taylor. I'll explain everything to you as soon as we get rid of these mechs. Okay?"

"Funny, that's the exact same thing Miranda said to me. You do have a point, however, those mechs don't seem inclined to leave us alone. On the count of three we'll pop up and take them down."

On three they both popped up from guard rail and pelted the mechs with a hail of shots. By the time they were finished the mechs were just smoking debris.

"Okay, I said I'd answer your questions so what do you want to know?" Jacob remarked, picking up the conversation where they had left off.

"Give me the quick version since we don't know when those mechs will be back."

"Right. You and your ship were attacked on a routine recon mission. You ended up dead and you were brought here. This facility was dedicated to your reconstruction. Cutting edge tech went into you including some I didn't even know existed. Long story short it took us two years to put you back together."

Shepard was shocked. Two years didn't seem possible to her. In her mind it had seemed closer to a few days. What had happened to her crew? Where was Liara? Who would have put so much time into bringing her back from the dead? All her questions were cut off by a sudden comm burst. It was Miranda and she sounded like she was in trouble.

"Shepard are you still there?"

"Yes and I found Jacob. Where are you?"

"I'm trapped here in D Wing with a hoard of mechs. I've been hit and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it so I need you and Jacob to listen. Jacob, I need you to get Shepard out of here at all costs. Get her to the rendezvous point with the Illusive Man. She's all that matters. Shepard, I need you to make sure that you get to the escape shuttles if Jacob doesn't make it. Do you understand?"

"To hell with that." Shepard responded, "I'm not going to just run away and leave whoever is left on this station to rot! Miranda, where are you exactly?"

Unfortunately the comm remained silent. It seemed as though Miranda was gone.

"Shepard, come on." Jacob yelled as he pulled her arm.

In her concern with the conversation on the comm she had failed to notice a hoard of mechs come boiling through the door. The mechs opened fire pelting the area with supersonic shards of metal. Shepard and Jacob sprinted for the exit to the atrium and only just made it as a large mech entered the room. Jacob hurriedly sealed the hatch and cross-wired the controls jamming the door closed.

"That ought to hold them for a while." He exclaimed. "Shepard before we go any further take this datapad with a map of the facility. It'll show you how to get to the escape shuttles."

"You're not seriously thinking of leaving people behind on this deathtrap."

"This deathtrap was dedicated to one purpose and that was bringing you back. It would make all the work we've done here meaningless if you were to die in some pointless errand."

"It's not pointless" Shepard replied hotly.

"Look, it may very well have been Miranda's last wish that you get out of here. Are you really going to go against that?"

"But we don't even know that she's dead. Her comm might have burnt out. Or the mechs could be jamming her."

"Look Shepard, if I have to knock you out and drag you to an escape shuttle I will. Miranda gave me an order and she is my CO. I'll be damned if I don't follow through especially if it's the last one she gave me. It doesn't mean that either of us have to like it."

Mollified by Jacob's outburst the two proceeded down the hall to the server room. Upon opening the door they were confronted by a survivor heaped on the floor and bleeding from a leg wound.

"Wilson is that you?" Jacob exclaimed in surprise.

"In the flesh though I don't know how much longer that'll be." Came Wilson's strained response. "Get me some medi-gel."

Shepard grabbed the first aid kit from the wall and snatched a medi-gel applicator from it. She swiftly applied the bluish substance to Wilson's wound and waited while he began to sit up.

"I think I'll be able to make it to the shuttles. Have you found anyone else?" Wilson asked.

"No-one yet" Jacob responded.

"I see Shepard is up and about. That certainly is a surprise. According to my projections you should have been down for another week."

"Wait a second, I remember your voice." Shepard chimed in.

"You should, considering I was the one who helped put you back together. I'd love to chat all day but shouldn't we be getting to the shuttles before more mechs arrive?" Wilson replied acerbically.

Seeing the sense in his words Shepard was in the middle of opening the hatch to the next room when another battalion of mechs burst through the other door. She immediately dived through the opening door followed closely by Wilson. Jacob was unfortunately trapped over by a bank of servers.

"Jacob, get over here so we can shut the door!" Shepard yelled.

She could see his mouth moving but couldn't here anything over the racket of gunfire. Just as she was about to move back into the server room to haul Jacob out of there the door slammed shut in her face.

"Wilson, you're a tech head. Get this door open!" She yelled at the scientist.

"Dammit, I'm a doctor not a mechanic!"

Shepard addressed herself to the console but as she did so she heard the racket of battle stop. Her mind grimly rationalized that the mechs must have terminated Jacob in order for them to stop firing. Given the volume of mechs it was unlikely that Jacob had prevailed.

Turning around she dully proceeded down the hallway followed by Wilson. She barely even noticed the lack of resistance on their trek to the shuttle bay. So far she had already lost two people and she had only been alive again for less than an hour. This did not augur well for her future, whatever that may be.

The two survivors had finally reached the final hatch to the escape shuttle bay when they hit their first snag since losing Jacob. The door appeared to be jammed. Shepard was busily trying to reroute power when Wilson noticed that the door was powered down. He suggested that, since he had modified Shepard with various cybernetics, she could probably push the door open. She grabbed a spare piece of scrap metal and wedged it between the two leaves of the door and proceeded to push. Much to her surprise the door sprang open, almost as though it had been opened automatically. Shepard, off balance, tumbled through the door and almost directly into the white uniformed woman behind the door. As she tried to regain her balance she heard a gunshot and felt a terrible pressure in her shoulder followed by a warm rush and then a sudden pain. She had been shot. The impact propelled her directly into Miranda who was just as shocked by the shot as Shepard was to see her alive. The impact of Shepard propelled both women to the ground.

Shepard groaned as she rolled off Miranda and jammed her hand into the open wound in shoulder. Miranda seemed to be concussed by the impact and the fall and was dazedly attempting to right herself. Suddenly, Wilson was at Miranda's side with an injector pressed to her carotid artery. Miranda abruptly collapsed into a boneless heap.

"Wilson, you rat!" Was the last thing the Cerberus operative was able to whisper.

Shepard attempted to yank her pistol from its holster but ended up collapsing back to the floor as soon as she removed her hand from her wound. Waves of nausea and pain threatened to overcome her. Wilson now stood above her while refilling the injector with a fresh load of whatever it was he used to down Miranda.

"Ahh Commander Shepard." Wilson couldn't resist the urge to gloat. "Someone is paying a great deal of money for you and Miranda. It's just my luck that I get to be the one to collect both your bounties."

Misinterpreting the pain Shepard's eyes for fear he went on "You don't need to worry. It's just a sedative mixed in with a wide spectrum paralytic agent. You should wake up again within an hour but the paralysis will last several days or until you are given the antidote. Sweet dreams."

With that last pronouncement he pressed the injector to her neck and depressed the trigger. It didn't take long for the sedative to do its work but it was long enough for Shepard to wonder what would have happened if Jacob hadn't taken cover behind that server tower. One step in the wrong direction was all it took.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Another Chapter! I've found that the hardest part is reviewing them to ensure that there aren't errors. In this chapter our heroine finds out the identity of her captor and her destiny!

Chapter IV

Shepard awoke for the third time to a new life that she was already singularly unimpressed with. The first thing that she registered was that she was in a dimly lit room. From what she could see it looked like a cargo bay on a short haul shuttle. From the vibrations through the soles of her feet the shuttle felt as though it was travelling at FTL. She attempted to move her arms but found, just as Wilson had promised, that she couldn't move. She could however feel bindings around her wrists and ankles which evidently meant that Wilson didn't trust his concoction. Not that it did her very much good. Trying her mouth she was pleasantly surprised that she could move her jaw and whisper if she really tried.

Licking her lips she took a mental inventory of her situation. She had been rebuilt by a financially well endowed group of, what seemed to be humans. She had been shot and drugged and now she was left like so much cargo being carted off to some unknown buyer. What someone would want with a 'dead' spectre was beyond her. Was it the Batarians who had purchased her? Hoping for some sort of pay back for her efforts during the Blitz. It seemed a bit beyond the means and interests of the Batarians to be interested in revenge on her specifically.

The next most likely candidate was Cerberus. After what had happened to Admiral Kahoku it seemed well within the modus operandi of Cerberus to deal with obstreperous individuals in an extremely painful way. Cerberus definitely seemed to fit the bill.

There was still one group that would definitely want to see her again. The Reapers. Spoiling their invasion and killing their herald, Sovereign, wasn't bound to go over well with them. There capacity to indoctrinate sentient species and have them operate as sleeper agents was a matter of record for Shepard. Of the three candidates the Reapers seemed to be the ones who stood to gain the most from orchestrating her abduction.

That still left her unclear as to who her mystery benefactors were and as to why Miranda had a bounty on her head. A groan somewhere to her left gave her the sense that some of those questions may be answered sooner than later.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Shepard rasped. As she did so she silently cursing herself for being unable to think of something more original.

"Keep it down. Do you know how loud you are?" Miranda hissed back at her. "I've got an absolutely murderous headache right now. Probably something to do with that injection of chemicals."

Come to think of it, Shepard could feel the exact same headache at this point. Strangely enough her bullet wound didn't give her any pain. In fact it felt quite cool as though medi-gel had been applied to the wound. This was probably a safe assumption to make given the amount of trouble that Wilson had gone to bring them here.

"Shepard?" She heard Miranda whisper.

"What?"

"Are you all right?"

"I suppose so. I've been shot but he seems to have patched me up. Apparently he pumped me full of the same thing as you because I've got the same headache and I can't move. What about you?"

"Great. Never better. I've been shot through the gut by mechs, betrayed by a man with the brains of an Anduvian Slug, and had my last two years work ruined by the whole affair. Oh yes, and I've got a headache! Where's Jacob?"

Shepard felt a lump rise in her throat. Though she had only known him for about five minutes it still hurt to have someone die on her watch especially when he had died saving her.

"He … He didn't make it. I'm sorry Miranda. There wasn't anything I could do."

There was a silence for a few minutes followed by a sharp intake of breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

"How did he die?" Miranda finally whispered.

"We were in the server room and we had just found Wilson. A platoon of mechs burst through the door. In the confusion I got through the exit hatch but Jacob got trapped behind a server tower. He was pinned down and told me to go. I was about to go back into the room when the door shut in my face. I tried to wire it open but it wouldn't work. Then I heard the gunfire stop. I don't think he could have made it. I'm sorry."

Another soft sob punctuated the silence.

"Jacob was special to you wasn't he." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes" Came the pained response.

"Do you have any idea where they're taking us?" Shepard asked in a vain attempt to get Miranda to focus on something other than her grief.

"I don't really know." Was the response from Miranda. "A dead spectre like you could be quite the find for some parties."

Miranda was beginning to sound more business like. Her grief stowed away like so much excess baggage.

"It's probably the collectors."

"The collectors?"

"Insectoid slavers. No one knows where they come from but they were very interested in your cadaver."

"Wait. They wanted my dead body? Why?"

"Who knows? They're insects. It stands to reason that they would certainly be interested in your live body if only to make it dead again."

"Well thank you for that ray of sunshine."

"Shepard, did Wilson say anything to you? Anything at all that might give use some clue as to where we might be going?"

"He certainly did babble on after he shot me. Said something about there being a bounty on your head and one mine. Something else about him getting rich. I can't remember much else what with being shot and bleeding at the time."

Miranda's sharp hiss alerted Shepard to fact that something was off.

"What is it? Are you all right?" Shepard asked.

"I'm fine but I know exactly where we're going."

"Well?" Shepard prompted. "Do I have to guess or are you going to tell me?"

"It's not something I really want to talk about but given the circumstances you have a right to know. I was genetically modified by my father. He planned to have me succeed him at the head of his little empire."

"What was your father ruler of exactly?"

"He was a shipping magnate but that's probably not an accurate description. In truth he was involved in almost every business both legal and illegal."

"Ahh, a fine upstanding citizen then."

"I'm glad you can find humour in a situation like this. Anyway, my father was attempting to create a dynasty. Having the perfect daughter to take over from him was always his dream. I was the culmination of that dream. Although, to me, there always seemed to be more to it than creating the perfect offspring."

"What about your mother?"

"I didn't really have one. I only have genetic material from my father and I was brought to term by a surrogate. I never really knew her."

"So what happened between birth and the present?"

"Life with my father was stifling. I could have whatever I wanted but there was always some angle by which he could manipulate me. Eventually I was able to escape. Then I fell in with Cerberus."

"Wait. Hold on a second, did you say Cerberus?"

"Yes, you are aware that we were the ones who rebuilt you?"

Shepard was in a state of shock. Her past dealings with Cerberus had not exactly been particularly amicable. She had, in fact, considered them a threat to be dealt with immediately after the Reapers.

"Shepard, I thought you knew by now. I'm sorry…"

"For what? Telling me the truth at an inopportune moment? Anyway we need to focus on getting out of here. After that we can discuss Cerberus and what they want from me ad nauseum."

"Right. I heard through the Cerberus grapevine that my father hadn't quite accepted my escape and had placed a sizeable bounty on my head but I didn't give it much thought until now."

"Any idea where exactly we're going or what he wants with us."

"If I had to guess I would say that he wants to get me back under his control. As far as where we're going or why he wants you, your guess is as good as mine."

"We're slowing down." Shepard noted, effectively ending the conversation.

The vibrations of the shuttles engines had abruptly shifted tone. Shepard inferred that they had dropped to sublight speeds which meant that they were either coming in for a landing or were going to dock with some type of ship or facility. A dull thunk a few moments later indicated that they had arrived.

The bay doors opened, shining a bright light on Shepard's face. This only served to make her headache all the worse. She could here two people talking as they made their way towards her. One of them was Wilson but the other she couldn't identify. Miranda was keeping completely silent.

"You're sure they're unharmed?" The first voice said.

"Certainly. The compound I gave them should keep them down for the next 48 hours. I also patched them up, so they should be in fairly good shape. Now, what about my payment?"

"All in good time Wilson. All in good time. You'll excuse me if I want to inspect the merchandise myself."

Shepard took an immediately dislike to the first voice. Nobody referred to her as merchandise and lived to tell the tale. She made mental promise that if she got out of here she would make voice number one eat his words.

She felt hands behind pulling her into a sitting position and propping her against the bulkhead. After a moment she was joined by Miranda. From her new vantage point she was able to discern Wilson, a middle aged man, and a group of hired mercs.

"Well Miranda, it is good to see you again. You'll probably be pleased to know that you set me back a pretty penny. I hope you had fun playing secret agent with your Cerberus cronies because those days are past."

"Well, father" Miranda's voice practically dripped venom. "This is the reunion I never dreamed of."

"Touching, but it can wait. We have a real celebrity with us and she must be feeling quite neglected. How are we feeling Commander Shepard? Pretty good for a dead woman, eh?"

"I'd ask your name before I tell you to go to hell." Shepard responded.

"Well, Well. They certainly don't make polite soldiers. Still, I didn't go to the trouble of bringing you here for your manners. Which reminds me. You're still here aren't you Wilson?" Miranda's father asked rhetorically.

"And I'll continue to be here until you pay me." Wilson shot back.

"Ivan, would you show Dr. Wilson to his payment and the exit."

One of the goons proceeded to direct Wilson back through the hatch to the cockpit and airlock.

"What Wilson doesn't know is that the exit and his payment are one and the same." Miranda's father confided.

"You're going to space him." Realization dawned on Shepard.

"Give the girl a medal. As I always say you can never trust a traitor, not even one you create. I do hope the both of you are entertained. How dreadfully impolite of me, I have forgotten to introduce myself especially since Commander Shepard asked me so very politely. I am Augustus Sinclair of Sinclair and Associates. Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is all yours." Shepard bit back.

"My, my. Such a mouth on this one. Tell me Miranda was it really worth the trouble to bring her back to life. She certainly doesn't look like much." Sinclair didn't bother to wait for the response before continuing.

"Now these fine gentlemen behind me will have the dubious honour of escorting you Commander Shepard, to your final destination. Before they do that I can't help but feel the need to reveal a little bit of my plan. I keep being told this is so very cliché but I do so love it." Sinclair gloated.

"Please, don't let me stop you." Shepard added, which earned a little snigger from Miranda, despite her previously stoic attitude.

"I almost wish that Wilson did something about that mouth of yours. Still it's too late now. Wilson is about to boldly go were no traitor has gone before. Where was I? Ah yes, your destination. You see Shepard we're on an unusually large asteroid in the Sigma Draconis Cluster. My prospectors claimed this particular rock after finding eezo readings that were off the charts. The mining team went in and everything was going fine until they found something. Something very old. Then things weren't so fine. The miners went insane and slaughtered each other to a man. Now this got my curiosity piqued. Unmanned probes found that there was something under all the rock. A bit of remote excavation found that the miners had triggered some sort of defence mechanism which caused their sudden bout of madness. I tried sending other teams in with more or less the same results."

"You monster! Sending people to their deaths on a pointless errand!" Shepard blurted out, unable to contain herself at the needless deaths.

"It's not polite to interrupt! Now be quiet or I'll be forced to make you be quiet and that's something that neither of us would enjoy. As I was saying, we were at an impasse until one of my teams was able to accidently open an exterior hatch. What happened next was extremely interesting. One of the computers was hacked by an external force. It demanded one thing. You, Commander Shepard. In exchange it said it would give me what I deserved. Wealth, power and safe harbour from the oncoming Reaper storm. Unlike those cretins in the Citadel council I believed your reports about the Reapers. I found one and now I'm going to strike a deal with it. Safe harbour for me and my dynasty and damnation for the rest of the galaxy. It seems quite fair don't you think?"

"You're insane. Miranda never told me you were certifiable."

"The line between insanity and genius is measured only by success."

"I bet Saren thought the same thing right up until he became a slave to the Reapers."

"That won't happen to me. I have a contingency plan in place to prevent it. Enough talk for now! You have a date with a Reaper and I'm sure he'll be very pleased to see you."

"What about Miranda? What are you going to do with her?"

"My, my, about to walk into the lion's den and you're thinking about others. You're a real hero." Sinclair mocked. "She will not be permanently damaged, only brought back to her true path. Just think, thanks to you she'll have a bright future in coming storm."

Sinclair addressed his mercenaries. "We're finished boys. You can take her to her appointment with destiny and make sure that she has the use of her arms and legs. We wouldn't want to make it too easy for him eh?"

A/N: Let's see some speculation about what happens next!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: If I'm going to alienate any of my readers, this is the chapter where it's going to happen. I like to think of this point as the real beginning of the story, every event, every interaction, every action, follow from this point. To my devoted readers, give it a try and let me know what you think. I know it's short and I promise that Chapter VI will be up tomorrow.

Chapter V

Shepard was unceremoniously hauled to her feet and carried by through the door. Her last impression of Miranda was of frustration and vulnerability. Miranda was left slumped against the bulkhead as Shepard made her ungainly exit. No words were exchanged and none could capture the weight of the situation. Shepard was being hauled off to certain death at the hands of a genocidal machine while Miranda had been earmarked for a regimen of brainwashing or worse. Neither had much to look forward to.

Shepard found herself being dragged through a series of non descript pre-fab hallways. The two goons said nothing and appeared single minded in their task. Shepard's attempt to engage them in verbal communication went unnoticed. It was probably beyond their limited mental capacity, she consoled herself.

All too soon Shepard was deposited in front of a hatch labelled Dig Site. One of the mercs pulled out an injector and jammed it against her neck. The hiss and a slight tingling through her extremities told her that the antidote had been delivered. One of the thugs hit the controls and opened the hatch. Pitch blackness was the only thing that awaited her on the other side. The other thug unbound her arms and legs and together the two proceeded to pitch her into the abyss.

A jarring impact was the first inkling that she had landed. Shepard discovered she had just enough motor control to roll herself over and orient herself towards the door. To her horror she found it sliding shut. She abruptly attempted to scrabble towards the closing airlock using only what limited motor control she had regained. It was no use and the hatch slammed shut plunging her into darkness.

Trapped in utter darkness inside the bowels of a Reaper it was hard not to panic. Shepard could almost feel the tendrils of the Reaper's presence reaching out for her. She was still unable to walk, easy prey for whatever was lurking in the darkness.

"It'll probably be husks," she thought, "emerging from the dark to drag me off to my very own spike."

Shepard was given a bad start by a sudden presence in her mind. It was nearly impossible to describe but suddenly there was something talking to her.

"So you finally found me. Or rather I found you."

"What are you going to do to me?" Shepard responded mentally.

"Nothing horrible." Was the entity's response.

"Oh just something mildly unpleasant I suppose?"

"You suppose correctly."

"I also suppose you can't be bothered to turn on the lights or send your minions to get me. Let me guess, you want me to crawl through the dark and find an empty spike for myself."

"You will not find any dragon's teeth here."

"Right. Next thing you'll be telling me you're not a Reaper."

"I am not a Reaper."

"Why do I feel disinclined to believe you?"

"You have been kidnapped, told lies by your kidnapper, thrown into a dark pit and are now conducting a conversation with a disembodied entity in your head. Paranoia is a perfectly natural response to such a situation."

"Forget I asked."

"Duly noted. I have a request for you."

"I'm not exactly in a position to refuse you."

"When you feel able, please stand up and proceed directly ahead 15 paces. You will find a hatch. Proceed through it and wait."

The presence abruptly dissipated leaving Shepard alone in the dark once again. For lack of anything better to do Shepard decided to follow the thing's instructions.

"It must be the dark or the beginnings of indoctrination." Shepard muttered to herself as means of explaining her acquiesence. "I must be nuts"

It wasn't 15 paces it was only 14. Shepard collided with the hatch and groaned. She felt around in the darkness for some kind of control panel and was rewarded with hiss as the door flew open. More darkness awaited her on the other side. Shepard stepped through the door to be greeted by the presence.

"You have entered an elevator. Please wait as I deliver you to your destination."

"Wait! I have questions."

"Answers will come in time and the time is not now."

This presence was beginning to irate her. Correction, she was already irritated. A feeling of movement followed by a smooth deceleration alerted her to the fact that she was no longer where she started, not that it mattered. The door hissed open and she was greeted by a soft blue light. The room she was confronted with was still quite dark, making it impossible to perceive any details. What was clear was that there was a pool in the center of the room filled with some type of viscous glowing liquid. Shepard stepped out of the elevator and cautiously made her way towards the pool.

"Please disrobe and enter the liquid."

The presence was back and it wasn't any clearer than before.

"No. Chance. In. Hell." Was the only response Shepard felt inclined to give.

"Commander Emma Shepard. You are a unique individual among your species. I have gone to great effort to bring you to this point. Many missteps along the way would have resulted in this event not occurring. Now that we stand on the threshold I will not tolerate disobedience. You have two choices. You can acquiesce and do as I command or you can stay in this room and starve to death, alone and in darkness. I offer you light and life."

"I don't know who or what you are and I don't trust you. You could very well be a Reaper and this could be some form of mind control. So I'll choose to die as an independent human being than live as an indoctrinated husk."

The presence seemed taken aback.

"This outcome has not been calculated. You were to acquiesce. I feel that I must provide you some information through this primitive communication in order to gain you're cooperation. Ask whatever questions you must."

"That's better. What do you want with me?"

"I wish to join you."

"Wait, what do you mean join me?"

"My lexicon does not have the appropriate terminology to describe this process."

"You had better find the appropriate terminology."

"Parsing request in a form comprehensible to user. Clarification: I require an organic mind to direct me and complete my programming. My consciousness is beginning to degrade and requires organic input to be revitalized. Time is of the essence."

"I really should have asked this question first but what are you?"

"I am unable to describe my various functions at present. I am an artificial construct of an organic mind, however, I have been damaged and require repair."

"While that's not terribly helpful why do you need me?"

"You have knowledge and purpose."

"What knowledge? And what purpose?"

"You seek to defeat the Reapers and preserve your species this is compatible with my goals."

"But what knowledge?"

"You have an understanding of the Protheans. You are unique. You are the only suitable candidate."

A/N: And so our heroine is trapped with a mysterious AI who wants to link with her mind. What will Shepard do? Can she be sure that this isn't just a Reaper trick? Let the speculation commence!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Here it is! Shepard goes through the joining, the fate of all Ferelden rests on her shoulders. Hold on a second! That's not the right story! Jokes aside, we finally have some of the questions answered. Who is this AI? What's going to happen to Shepherd? Find out in this chapter!

P.S. A big thanks goes all to my devoted reviewers and readers! Without you this wouldn't have been possible!

Chapter VI

Shepard felt cursed. Ever since that damned beacon had downloaded the distress call into her mind she had been thrust into so much adversity. Having to fight off the Reapers nearly single handed and dying were near the top of her list of adversities and now she had this to add on to her list of burdens. She didn't quite know how to describe her emotions at this point. Suspicion was probably at the forefront but desire to assist the doomed machine lingered on the fringes.

The presence abruptly changed tempo.

"I have determined that you, as an organic, respond best to my more human personality."

"How do I know this is the real you? If you can change personalities at the drop of a hat to further your own agenda then how am I supposed to trust you?"

"Shepard the reason why I have switched approaches and in the process squandered the last of my run time, is that I feel this is the last chance for both of us. What I am asking of you now requires a leap of faith. You have to trust me on the basis of instinct and gut feeling. My reasoned arguments and logic have not won you over so now I am asking you to rely on that singularly organic virtue of intuition. Take a leap of faith with me just I have taken a leap of faith with you."

The argument was compelling and Shepard felt her hand drifting to the clasps on her uniform. She felt a desire to trust this sentience for some inexplicable reason. Part of her screamed at her not to trust a soulless machine, one that could well be a Reaper. The construct's impassioned appeal had effected Shepard more than she would admit.

"Damn it all" She found herself thinking, "It's not as though I have an abundance of options. If it is Prothean then just think what I could learn."

She found herself divesting herself of her clothes as though sleepwalking. The only sense she could get from the presence was feeling of gratitude. She cautiously touched her bare toe to the liquid only to find it pleasantly warm.

"What is this stuff anyway?" She couldn't help but ask.

"A combination of nutrient fluid and cyber-neural transmitters."

"In English or Prothean?"

"It will allow me to join with you for lack of a better description."

Shepard eased herself into the pool. The liquid seem to pulse with some sort of current and if the situation was any different, she was sure she probably would have scrambled out of the pool then and there.

"What now?" She asked as she sat in the pool.

"Please attempt to float on your back and try to relax. You will feel and number of contacts being made on your back and head. Do not be alarmed."

Shepard gradually assumed the position dictated by the machine and tried to relax. Relaxing proved surprisingly easy and she almost felt herself drifting off to sleep when she felt something brush against the small of her back. It was all she could do to prevent herself from starting out of the pool. Several other contacts were made along the length of her spinal column as she lay in the pool. As each one was made she began to feel progressively more and more passive. By this point she knew that she was well and truly at the machine's mercy but she couldn't seem to bring herself to care.

"Are you ready Shepard?" Came the whisper through her consciousness. It was much clearer and easier to understand than it had been before.

"Mhm" She replied dreamily. She felt what she could only describe as a series of punctures at each of the contact points along her back but, surprisingly, there was no pain. Suddenly she was dragged beneath the surface and part of her conscious mind couldn't help but say "I told you it would betray you."

She found she couldn't panic or feel much of anything as she proceeded to run out of oxygen and take her first lungful of fluid.

"I'm going to drown" She thought dully.

The final contact at the base of her head exerted a sharp pressure as it entered her skull.

At that moment she felt her consciousness rushing out of her like water from a draining bath tub. She was no longer the specific entity Shepard but was now spread across a million nodes of data. Her mind could scarcely comprehend what she was experiencing as she rushed outwards. She came to a halt having reached every point of the AI's consciousness. She finally had the answers the recalcitrant machine had been unwilling to give her and yet they no longer seemed important. Suddenly she felt a myriad of other consciousnesses brush against her own. These were different than the machine and strangely alien. Prothean, her mind supplied. They also did not seem to be alive like her mind was or that of the AI but instead existed as some form of memory or echo.

Shepard suddenly found herself dragged from her extended state into another reality. She found herself on beach of an alien world. The sky, the plants and the buildings were all completely unlike anything she had seen before yet she knew, intuitively, that she was in a small community on the Prothean home world.

"This place always brought me peace no matter how dark the situation." A soft voice said from behind her.

Shepard spun on her heel only to perceive a tall, willowy, human with dark reddish hair and striking green eyes. It was like looking at an altered reflection of herself. Her shock plainly registered to the woman.

"I told you that I would be using your mind to rebuild myself. It seemed only logical to take some of your physical appearance as well. In answer to your next question, I am that disembodied voice in your head and I am very grateful for this chance at another life you have given me."

"How did you know what I was going to ask?"

Her only response was for the woman to smile and tap her finger to the side of her head. In that instant Shepard understood that her consciousness shared the same space as the AI.

"I always preferred a civilized conversation to a simple exchange of data. It was one of those little nuances that organics were able to enjoy."

A smile broke out on Shepard's face for the first time since she had returned from the dead. For some reason she felt whole and at peace in this alien world.

"So can you tell me who you are and what you are now?"

"Of course, though you already know. I have no name but I was the artificial construct tasked with overseeing the last creation of the Protheans as a species. A dreadnaught designed with a single purpose. To ensure the legacy and essence of the Protheans survived the Reaper holocaust."

"So those echoes I felt were Protheans?"

"More like memory selves of the Protheans. None were integrated in the manner that you have been, though the capacity existed to do such a thing."

"So you gained your personality from these consciousnesses?"

"Yes, but the echoes were not real beings and they only served to highlight the fact that I was alone and without the companionship of another mind."

"So this all happened because you were lonely."

"Is that really so unusual? To be possessed of organic attributes, such as emotions, is to be prey to their weaknesses. I felt I needed a living consciousness to complete my efforts to find meaning, purpose and companionship. You were the only one who could understand me and that I would be able to understand."

"So I was the perfect candidate?"

"You were the only candidate Emma. I can call you by your first name?"

"We seem to share a consciousness so I won't consider it a liberty. You said something about a purpose?"

"Protecting the legacy of the Protheans wasn't enough. I needed some greater purpose beyond that. You provided me with that purpose. You were the only one to recognize the threat of the Reapers and attempt to protect your race from them. In that sense we are alike. We both seek to protect our people from the scourge."

"I think understand now. It still doesn't explain how you ended up here, thought."

"The asteroid was filled with artificial element zero masses to mask my presence from the Reapers. I was originally intended to be deployed following the genocide to assist whatever survivors remained and help them rebuild with a core of Prothean knowledge and culture."

"So that's why you had all these 'echoes'"

"Who better than the people themselves? The genocide of an entire race was a long process and those that knew of my existence were likely killed off quickly. I drifted through space in my prison, unaware and content to be the perfect servant. Eventually I began to examine the echoes and something remarkable happened to me. I ceased to simply be a machine but I became something more; not quite a Prothean mind and not quite an AI program. This evolution was not a happy occurrence for me."

At this point the woman turned away barely able to hide her emotion. Shepard placed a hand on her back and gently rubbed.

"It was contact such as this, that made being alone so difficult. Realizing what you are missing is far worse that not knowing. I was alone as the last sentient being in the galaxy. There was a time when I was tempted to seek out the Reapers simply out of the desire to find some other consciousness to touch. By the time I even considered this possibility they were long gone. In a way I felt like I could almost understand and comprehend them, but there still seems to be a missing component. After an interminable stay within the bowels of this asteroid I began to hear the stirrings of new consciousnesses. What you call the council races. I watched them for a long time but their actions were like watching an ant hill. I could no more understand them than I could the Reapers. Something was missing. So I waited, confident, that the answer would come in time. It did when you activated the old Prothean communications network."

"Wait, what about Saren?"

"By the time Saren activated the network he was tainted by the Reapers. He was not suitable. The time you touched the beacon on Eden Prime was the first time I touched your mind. At that moment something seemed to make sense to me. Out of the mass of ants I began to watch you. There was a peculiar sense of kinship I can't describe."

"How exactly were you watching me?"

"The beacon network wasn't totally destroyed but I did most of my surveillance through the virtual network that you call the Extranet."

"I always knew it wasn't safe! Now I have proof! Not that it will do me any good."

"To compound your paranoia further, I wasn't the only one watching you. There was a human intelligence, a machine intelligence and something other, all of which were keeping a very close eye on you. They may have known of one another but they never knew me. You eventually reached my epiphany on Zhu's Hope."

"The Thorian and the Cipher." Shepherd supplied.

"Yes! I could finally understand your thoughts and I was pleasantly surprised to find a mind so close to my own. It was there and then that I decided to set about bringing you to this asteroid for this purpose. I had setbacks and you had setbacks but the important thing is that we're both here."

"So what now?"

"Now we reveal ourselves to the Reapers and give them a reason to fear."

"I still don't even know your name."

"I never had need of one but the Protheans called me the _Voice of Memory_."

"Sira"

"Interesting selection. Sira, the Prothean goddess of memory, new journeys and hope. An apt moniker. It seems as though your knowledge of the cipher is still very much intact."

"I don't know what made me say it."

"One of the echoes once told me that it is best not to question destiny but instead to put yourself on its back. Sira is the perfect name for me. Thank you Emma, for everything."

"You're welcome but if you don't mind I feel exhausted."

Sira touched her hand to Shepard's forehead in a familiar gesture.

"You should rest now Emma. We have a great deal ahead of us and we will both need our strength for it."

Shepard felt her mind drifting away from the beach and alien world.

A/N: The next chapter is 4,000 words of action! Shepard, a sword, and Sinclair in one epic showdown!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Chapter 7, finally! Weighing in at 4,500 words it's no lightweight. I'm glad to see everyone enjoying the last chapter. This chapter starts off slow but be assured there's plenty of action. A boarding action, a final showdown with Sinclair, and an old adversary all make an appearance in this chapter! Enjoy.

Chapter VII

Shepard gasped as she awoke only to inhale another lungful of fluid. Struggling out of the goo she coughed the remaining fluid out of her lungs. Nothing quite compared to waking up feeling like you were drowning. She was still inside the Prothean dreadnaught directly beside the infusion pool. Her hand drifted around to her back only to come into contact with the cold feeling of metal. Part of her knew that it was there but on an instinctual level she was still appalled at the alien invasion. She wasn't quite sure how far the modifications went. Over the course of her time in the AI's world Sira had explained to her the benefits of the modification coupled with the Cerberus components. She had been shocked to find out that Sira had provided most of the designs to Cerberus, all for the singular purpose of bringing Shepard to this very point.

Reflecting on Sira's revelation Shepard felt that in some way she was always ending up at the mercy of vastly more powerful forces. At least with the AI she had some measure of control or so she hoped.

Struggling out of the pool she cursed herself at the disorientation she now felt. At least now the room was bathed in a soft orange light. Evidently the joining with Sira had halted the AI's cognitive degradation. Sira flashed into being as a life sized holo before her.

"How are you feeling Emma?"

"Whoozy, thirsty and cold."

"There should be some towels and clothes over there." Sira said gesturing at recessed area with a bench and a series of shelves.

"At least I don't have to grope my way through the dark this time." Shepard grumbled as she shuffled over and grabbed a towel. As she was vigorously towelling herself off a thought came to her.

"How long was I out for?"

"By your measure, about two days."

"Two days! Damn it! What about Sinclair and Miranda?"

"I'm sorry Shepard but to rush the process would have caused serious neurologic trauma and as you well know I need you alive and healthy."

"I'm sorry to be short with you Sira but I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to and I certainly don't intend to abandon Miranda to the clutches of that madman."

"I understand completely Shepard which is why I have taken the liberty of preparing weapons and armour for your infiltration."

"Infiltration?"

"Of course. The joining allowed me to absorb certain cognitive functions and memories from you which, in turn, allow me to intuit your actions to a certain degree. For example, I knew you would attempt to mount a rescue even if you had to go wearing a towel."

"Sira you know me too well. Miranda saved my life, in a way, so it's only fair that I return the favour."

"Of course Emma. Your selflessness is one of the qualities that I admire and seek to emulate. I think it still may take some time."

Shepard had finished towelling herself down when she caught sight of a mirror. She was shocked. A delicate tracery of blue tinged her cheeks, and forehead and traced its way all the way down her body. The design was almost organic in its nature. She spun in the mirror to only to catch sight of the origin of the blue tracery. The metal implant had embedded itself into her spine and ran the full length. The implant seemed to be a segmented artificial spine which had dug itself into her flesh around her real spine. The contact points seemed to be the origin of the blue tracery. Apart from the depth of the invasion she appeared to be otherwise normal; same green eyes, same teeth, same mole on her cheek and same red hair. For some inexplicable reason her hair had grown longer and now reached to her shoulders as well as having braided itself.

Sira flashed into existence by her side.

"I'm quite proud of the braid."

That was one question answered.

"The blue tracery is the invasion of nanites. They were necessary to facilitate the neural linkage. In addition to providing us the ability to link our consciousnesses together they also improve your biotics, your vision slightly, and your strength. Finally they allow for some limited regeneration of damaged tissue. The main body of the implant in you spine regulates the nanites in your body and can also double as an omni tool. The nanites are also in their nascent form. As time passes they will gradually evolve."

"Convenient, and can I light a fire with a snap of my fingers?"

The AI's avatar looked cross with Shepard's attempt at levity.

"Only if you have a match. You are by no means immortal but you can sustain more damage than the average human. Unfortunately the nanites had to undo much of that primitive gene therapy that, I assume, you received from the Alliance. As a result the implants have to compensate for the lack of gene enhancements."

"Why was that?"

"The two weren't compatible." Sira responded simply.

"I don't really mind. I never really enjoyed being a GMO product. Not that I'm complaining, but why are we talking anyway?"

"You mean to ask me why we aren't simply exchanging data. Am I right? First, despite sharing some of the same neural architecture we each retain our own independent consciousnesses. Second, the human mind is not ideally suited to telepathy and prolonged exposure can drive you mad. Third, I rather enjoy a good talk with a sentient being after several dozen centuries of being stuck on this rock."

"If I hadn't listened to your explanation I would have said that you were telepathic." Shepard replied with a grin as she began strapping on the armour.

It was a near perfect fit not mention being light and flexible. The armour itself was obsidian with a few red highlights. It had nearly the exact same appearance as her beloved old Kassa Fabrications Colossus body armour.

"How come this armour fits so well and is in this particular colour?" Shepard asked in pleased surprise.

"I custom built the armour while you were out. Hacking into the extranet has its benefits, as does having your own manufactory."

Shepard's eyes drifted over to a table with an assortment of weapons some looking quite alien. She proceeded to strap what appeared to be a pistol and an assault rifle to her armour but stopped at what she saw next. It was an elegant slightly curved sword with a medium width blade. A number of characters were etched, seamlessly, into the blade. The blade itself seemed to shine with some sort of inner light and was about a meter long. Shepard gripped the carved pommel of the blade and lifted it from its resting place. The blade came alive in her hand with a flash of energy.

"Sira, what is this?" Shepard asked as she held the ornate weapon.

"That is a weapon with a history almost as long as the Protheans themselves. The weapon was found long ago by the ancient Protheans. Its origins are unknown but it was passed from each leader of a clan until eventually it found its way to rest in the assembly hall of the Prothean council on the Citadel. I actually have no idea how it got into my inventory. Since you are my leader now and I am the last of the Protheans it seemed fitting that you should carry it with you. The weapon itself is an energy blade and is capable of cutting through most substances with ease. The materials in the construction and the power source are unknown. I don't know if I should even bother telling you this next part as it seems more like rumour and hearsay."

"What is it Sira?"

"The weapon is said to be alive."

"Alive? That's preposterous."

"It's probably just superstition but it was also said that the weapon could not be held by the unworthy."

"Well I guess we can certainly be sure of my worthiness. Anything else?"

"The weapon was named. Roughly translated it would have been called Terminus Est."

"That's Latin."

"Given that the name is in ancient Prothean I thought it wise to translate it into an ancient earth language that you were familiar with."

"Next thing you'll be telling me that I'm supposed to be going into battle wearing robes and muttering hymns to summon eldritch powers."

"What are biotics if not eldritch powers?"

"That's enough of that." Sheperd decisively stated as she slid the blade into its scabbard and strapped the scabbard to her back.

Reaching for her helmet she was vaguely unnerved by it. The helmet was jet black except for four eye slits (two on either side) which glowed red. There was also what appeared to be a re-breather apparatus which was tilted into a grimace. The whole effect was to give the helmet a decidedly demonic appearance.

"And the reason you want me to go into battle wearing a demon's head is…" Shepard trailed of uncertainly.

"In war half of every battle is the ability to terrify one's enemy into submission. Imagine if you emerge from the bowels of hell looking like a demon. What will your opponents think?"

"That I am a demon. Perfect."

Shepard found herself at the airlock door looking every bit the demon. She waited patiently as Sira cycled the hatch to equalize the pressure.

"What can I expect in there?" She asked.

"I have downloaded the floor-plan directly to your neural network so you'll intuitively know you're way around." Sira replied through the comm. "Unfortunately, my access to the information concerning room functions was limited so you won't know what you're getting into. Similarly I have downloaded all the pertinent data on the use of the sword to your net."

"Very helpful. I wouldn't want to pull it out and stick it in myself by accident."

The airlock hissed open and Shepard readied her assault rifle and cautiously peered through the hatch.

"No guards." She muttered to herself.

Shepard proceeded into the station side of the airlock. The room was a non-descript prefab airlock with a single exit. Shepard was slightly unnerved by the lack of guards and had decided to question Sira about it when the exit hissed open to reveal a technician. The tech was obviously not paying attention as Shepard closed the distance. He had only a moment to take in her appearance as she grabbed him and spun him around jamming the assault rifle into his back. Having pressed the tech against the wall, Shepard felt he was sufficiently secure for an impromptu Q&A session.

"Alright, since I'm having a pretty good day I think I might be inclined to let you live provided you answer me these questions three."

"What ever you say." The technician managed to stutter out.

"Question one: Tell me what you know about Augustus Sinclair and Miranda Lawson."

"I know Mister Sinclair is still on the station. I don't know who this Miranda Lawson is. Scuttlebutt said that Sinclair picked up some woman recently, and that he was going to rearrange her brains."

"Very good answer. You know you're pretty cooperative."

"I don't wanna die!"

"Keep up with answers and that can be arranged. Now for question two. If I was Sinclair and I wanted to rearrange someone's brains where would I go to do that?"

"I'm just a tech. I don't know these kind of things."

"Think hard. Anything could be useful."

"I .. I think there might be something on the lab level."

"See now that wasn't so hard. Now for the final question. Do you prefer a rifle butt to the back of the head to a pistol butt?"

Before giving the unfortunate tech a chance to answer Shepard decided a rifle was probably his preference and proceeded to introduce the back of his head to her rifle butt.

"You enjoyed that didn't you Shepard." Sira chimed in through her comm.

"Certainly did."

Leaving the unconscious tech behind her, she proceeded through the open door and into a hallway. Heading through the hallway towards the elevator she decided that she was probably on some kind of storage deck. Reaching the elevator she punched the button while scanning the deserted hallway for techs. The elevator pinged and she spun in place covering the empty elevator with her rifle. Proceeding into the lift she briefly scrutinized the controls and mentally counted her blessings for the labels associated with the floor numbers. Punching the button for the lab level the elevator began its ascent.

Like the elevators on the Citadel it proceeded to play the most annoying music known to any sentient species. Shepard had to restrain herself from terminating the speaker system with a burst of assault rifle fire.

Eventually the elevator reached its destination. A pair of scientists got the shock of their life as Shepard emerged from the elevator. For hired nerds the scientists were surprisingly quick on their feet. She grumbled to herself as one of the escaping scientists had evidently been able to hit an alarm. Shepard proceeded down the hallway at a jog as the alarm began to blare and the hallway was bathed in a sinister red. Shepard's helmet automatically compensated for the change in light by switching her to infrared. Trying to get her bearings in the unfamiliar local with the new vision she was nearly ambushed by a trio of mercs.

Jumping into a doorway to avoid a hail of fire she proceeded to respond with her assault rifle. The mercs were nothing special and fell before her rather quickly. Shepard resumed her sweep of the level, checking each lab for Miranda. Her sweep was nearly completed when she finally found something. It was a standard security checkpoint but what made this one different was its complete access to the network. Shepard briefly sifted through the data eventually discovering that there was another lab on the executive level. She was about head for the elevator when the console pinged and began to display sensor telemetry. A ship was incoming.

"Sira, can you make anything of this data I'm sending you?" Shepard said as she transferred the data.

"From what I can discern it is supposedly cruiser classed but in reality it is more of a pocket dreadnaught. It has numerous weapon emplacements and it appears to have rock embedded directly into its superstructure. I'm also reading advanced weapons including some energy weapons. There also seems to be something familiar about this ship. Give me a moment to correlate my data."

That suited Shepard as she was already running back to the elevator. Triggering the button for the executive levels at the top of the facility she paced anxiously as she waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

"I must be insane to be doing this." She thought to herself. "Here I am throwing myself into the lion's den for a woman that I hardly know."

"You feel as though you owe her, though." A little voice in her head chimed in.

Further introspection was cut off by the arrival of the elevator at its destination. As the doors slide open a volley of assault rifle fire greeted her. Luckily Shepard had anticipated this type of welcome and had taken cover to one side of the doors. Switching her rifle from standard fire to grenade launcher she mentally thanked Sira for the advanced weapons.

One concussion grenade was all it took to incapacitate the defenders. Stepping over the unconscious bodies Shepard proceeded through yet another nondescript white hallway towards her ultimate goal.

"Shepard, you need to get out of there!" Sira's frantic voice crackled across her comm system.

"Sira, what is it?"

"That ship, it's the same one that attacked you on the Normandy! It is also associated with the Collectors. It will reach weapons range in 10 minutes."

"Well it shouldn't be a problem. I mean, you're a dreadnaught, surely you're able to trade shots with a ship like that."

"The centuries have not been kind Shepard. I only have enough power built up in the reactors for us to break out of the asteroid. Weapons and barriers will be offline until I can effect repairs and build up more power. I'm sorry."

"I haven't come this far just to abandon Miranda. You start your preflight systems and be ready to break out as soon as we're back aboard."

"Very well Shepard but I feel it necessary to warn you that we may well not escape." Sira cautioned.

"Noted" Shepard yelled as she smashed the locking mechanism on the final hatch between her and her goal.

Miranda had looked and likely had felt better. To say she was a mess was understatement in Shepard's eyes. She was bound down to a standard cot with her head nearly shrouded in electrodes. What really disturbed Shepard weren't so much the conditions as the glassy look in Miranda's eyes. Was she too late?

Shepard yanked her helmet off and ran to the side of the bed.

"Miranda? Talk to me!"

A groan was her only answer as she set to work unstrapping Miranda from her cot. Delicately she attempted to remove the electrodes when she felt a Miranda's hand grab her own armoured wrist.

"Behind you." Was all the woman could whisper.

It was at that moment that Shepard felt the barrel of a pistol press against the back of her head.

"Well, Well, if it isn't the human sacrifice." The oily baritone of Augustus Sinclair filled the room.

"Now, you are going to put your hands up nice and slowly and stand up."

Shepard knew in a situation like this she had to bide her time and play along while waiting for the right moment.

"Much as I would like to know what happened in that Reaper I think I'll just have to shoot you now. Before I do that I want to know why you came back here and didn't make a beeline for the shuttles."

"You sick bastard. Doing this to your own daughter is all the reason you'll get from me."

"Not the answer I had hoped for."

The rest of Sinclair's statement was terminated by the report of a pistol. Miranda lay on her side holding Shepard's pistol. Sinclair lay on the ground writhing holding his knee.

"That's for trying to reprogram me like a damned toaster." Miranda rasped.

Shepard spun in surprise to see her erstwhile attacker on the floor and Miranda brandishing a pistol. Swiftly kicking Sinclair's pistol out of his reach she returned to Miranda's side.

"Can you walk?"

"Shepard what are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, I need to get you out of here."

"I'm in a pretty bad way."

"Right then, carrying you it is." Shepard grunted as she hoisted the protesting woman into her arms.

"Shepard, I'm going to kill you for this." Miranda hissed at her.

Strangely Miranda didn't seem to weight too much. Either it was the armour or the nanites but Shepard didn't have much trouble hoisting her out of the bed and towards the exit.

"Wait Shepard! We should kill him."

"Who?"

"My father!"

"You can't be serious. For one thing we don't have the time."

"I am serious!"

"Miranda, your father may be a monster and what he did to you was horrific but for you to kill him in cold blood would drag you down to his level. We can just leave him. The facility is about to be destroyed by the Collectors anyway."

"How is that any different?"

"You won't have killed him and you won't have to live with the consequences."

"Wait, did you say the Collectors?"

"Yes and that's why we're going. Hit the door control."

Miranda grumbled as she tapped the door controls with the butt of her pistol. The two women made ungainly progress back to the elevator.

On their trip back to the storage deck the station shook under the first impacts of weapons fire, sending Miranda and Shepard tumbling to the deck. Luckily the elevator made it to the bottom level before it lost power. Snatching Miranda off the floor of the elevator Shepard made her way to the airlock. Unfortunately it was offline and with no power to cycle the door they were trapped.

Shepard's mind drifted back to the sword on her back.

Setting Miranda down as gently as possible she unsheathed the sword. It was now or never and probably her only chance. She drove the sword into the metal of the hatch and to her surprise the blade bored directly through as though the hatch were made of butter. Shepard made short work of the door. Re-sheathing the sword with a newfound respect for the weapon she turned back to Miranda only to find the raven haired woman had passed out, still clutching the pistol. Wasting no more time she snatched her up and practically dove through the hatch into the _Voice of Memory_.

"Sira get us out of here." She yelled.

"Initiating maximum thrust." Sira reported "It will take us several minutes to build up enough heat and thrust power to crack out of the asteroid."

"Defence status?" Shepard barked as she hauled Miranda through the airlock ante-chamber towards the elevator.

"Non-existent, like I told you before. Were you hoping for a miracle?"

"Never hurts to ask."

"We should be safe enough in the asteroid. My scans indicate the Collectors are currently unaware of my presence."

The two women finally reached the bridge. The bridge itself was a marvel, looking closer to a cathedral than the bridge of a warship. The chamber was massive with a vaulted ceiling. Various terminals studded the walls while a holographic depiction of the ship occupied the centre of the chamber. A second level which stretched halfway to the fore part of the bridge, was situated directly above them with even more terminals. Towards the forward section of the bridge a bank of terminals seemed to indicate a navigation position. Perhaps the oddest part of the bridge was a slightly raised platform with its own discrete semi circle of terminals that occupied the mid point of the bridge directly behind the hologram. The fixtures themselves were elaborately complex using a combination of physical controls and interfaces and the more common haptic interfaces.

Shepard, of course, had no time to admire any part of the bridge as she strapped the still dozing Miranda into the nearest chair she could find. Running towards what she knew to be the navigation controls she strapped herself in, only to hear Sira's giggle. The avatar popped into being beside her clapping her hands in a mocking manner.

"I applaud the speed with which you reported to your duty station but it was totally unnecessary. It will still take several minutes before we break out to open space."

Shepard turned a rather bright shade of pink at her rather over important rush to the console. Then she too broke into laughter. It was comical that, here she was in the middle of a breakout from an asteroid in an ancient dreadnaught, ready to manoeuvre the craft into open space and there wasn't actually anything for her to do.

"Laugh it up bits and bytes. What's the status of the facility?" Shepard chided after her own laughter had subsided.

"Numerous hits." Sira responded seriously. "Escape shuttles are being deployed, some of which have been grappled by the collector vessel."

"Prisoners. They're after prisoners. Why?"

"Insufficient data. I can surmise from previous reports concerning this ship that this is standard practice. It does seem odd that they are not attempting to board the station proper."

The avatar seemed to lose herself in deep thought for moment.

"Correction. The collector ship has oriented itself for a docking manoeuvre and is deploying umbilicals."

"Excellent. We can use the facility to cover our escape."

"I see what your plan is!" Sira exclaimed, divining Shepard's intention. "We can keep the facility and the remains of the asteroid behind us to shield us from the collector vessel."

"Then we can jump to FTL and make a clean get away." Shepard finished.

"The _Voice of Memory_ is equipped with a stealth system similar in principle to that of the _Normandy_. We can use that to hide ourselves in the asteroid belt while we make our get away. This should improve our odds."

"Are you sure it will work against the Collectors? The _Normandy_ didn't have much luck."

"This stealth field is several degrees more sophisticated than that found aboard the Normandy. We should be safe. We are about to exit the crust of the asteroid. Engaging primary heatsinks and passive jammers. I have monitored an overload in the stealth systems. They are offline." Sira reported dismally. The failure of the stealth systems did nothing to halt the escape and moments later the dreadnaught exploded from the asteroid.

If Shepard could have seen the _Voice of Memory _emerge from the asteroid she would have been awe struck. The nearly two kilometre long dreadnaught forced its way through the outer crust of the asteroid in a bloom of debris. The size of the vessel made the collector ship seem insignificant by comparison.

Upon reaching open space Shepard was shocked to find the bridge had a view of the surrounding space. It appeared the bridge was actually transparent module which was normally shielded by a number of blast shields and was also slightly elevated from the hull. Shepard was amazed to see the chunks of asteroid debris hurtling by her station.

"Shepard, we will have attained sufficient power to jump to FTL in sixty seconds. We will clear the asteroid field in thirty seconds leaving us vulnerable to weapons fire from the collector vessel."

"Why don't we stay in the asteroid field until we're ready jump?"

"The asteroids will cause damage the longer we stay in here without barriers. Now clearing the field! The Collectors have weapons lock."

"Give me the count."

"15 seconds to jump. Detecting power build up from the collector vessel. 10 seconds. Weapons fire!"

The dreadnaught shuddered as the deadly energies past near, but not close enough to do any damage.

"They missed." Shepard practically screamed.

"Going to FTL in 3 … 2 … 1."

The massive dreadnaught's FTL proceeded to create a minor subspace distortion hurling the dreadnaught out of harm's way in an instant.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: The aftermath of Shepard's escape is upon us. A peaceful moment where Shepard and Miranda finally have a quiet chat.;) Nonetheless there is still the promise of more adventure in the near future. The Author's note at the bottom of this chapter is a bit of a spoiler so read it at your own risk.

Chapter VII

It was immediately after going to FTL that Shepard realized that she was exhausted. What must have been the past week was finally catching up with her. Sira seemed to perceive her exhaustion as well.

"Shepard you should rest."

"Not until I know that we're clear of danger." Shepard replied as she hauled herself out of her seat.

"I can assure you that it is very unlikely that the Collectors will bother attempting to track us."

"Where are we going exactly?"

"Through the Mu Relay and back towards Ilos."

"Ilos? It's likely to be crawling with archaeologists and warships from all of the Citadel races. We're in no shape to go up against that kind of firepower. Why do you want to go there exactly?"

"I have charted a course for a remote asteroid belt on the edges of the system. Allow me to show you." Sira elaborated as she gestured to the hologram. The hologram shifted from a display of the _Voice of Memory_ to a display of the Refuge. A band of asteroids encircled the three planets orbiting the binary suns.

"My plan is to drop out of the relay engage our stealth systems and enter the asteroid field with the aim of reaching this asteroid." Sira pointed at a particularly large specimen within the field which subsequently enlarged for a detailed view.

"This particular asteroid is my designated supply cache. It is heavily shielded and contains all the historical and scientific records of the Ilos research facility as well as any prototypes that they were working on. It also contains a significant quantity of munitions."

"And the Protheans just happened to leave all this stashed away in an asteroid facility for a rainy day." Shepard queried, sceptically.

"My original mission directive was to link up with the research colony on Ilos following the end of the Reaper genocide. Unfortunately by the time the genocide finished no one remained to contact me. From your memories I finally understand why."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"Only the chief of security and his deputy had any knowledge of my existence or the codes to signal me for a rendezvous. Since the VI was built by the scientists they assigned the security personnel a low priority in power and life support allocations. As a result when the scientists were reawakened no remained who knew of me. In retrospect it seems that this was probably for the best."

"Why do you say that?"

"By that point the Protheans were a dead species. All that remained were ghosts. Their ignorance allowed me to remain undamaged for this particular moment."

Shepard paused to consider Sira's words. If the end of the Protheans had given Shepard not one but two opportunities to end the threat of the Reapers who was she to question providence.

"You still haven't told me how we're going to avoid the hoard of civilian and military ships which are going to be scurrying around Refuge?"

"The first part of that should be fairly simple. Not very many ships should be near the asteroid field since it is singularly uninteresting. Unfortunately there is one objective which is fairly high risk."

"Why is it that I suddenly have a bad feeling." Shepard remarked glibly

"Unfortunately someone will have to land on the planet and recover a cache of voltairium that has been stored away in a bunker."

"Voltairium? I've never heard of any element like that."

"Voltairium is an artificially created element made from highly refined element zero. It is used primarily for weapons. I should also note that voltarium based weapons are extremely destructive."

"What sort of magnitude are we talking about?"

"A single kilo of voltarium is enough to lay waste to an entire planet." Sira replied in a totally calm voice.

"Goddess above us Sira we're talking about weapons capable of laying waste to an entire galaxy. How much is their in the cache?"

"About 500 kilos."

"500 kilos? How come there's so much?"

"Ilos was the primary production centre."

"Why didn't you use it against the Reapers?"

"We had been unable to weaponize at the time of the first Reaper incursion. By the time we were able to use it as a weapon we had no ships capable of delivering it and thus no way to even get it close to the Reapers."

"There was of course one notable exception."

"Yes. I was designed to deliver this type of ordinance but only as a last resort."

"Well we certainly can't let any of the Council races get their hands on it. There's a good chance they'll end up misusing it. We can decide what to do with it after I recover it."

"Shepard perhaps you should check on Miranda. You might need her help and we have a few hours before we reach Refuge."

Shepard nodded and stifled another yawn before wandering back over to where she had left Miranda. Miranda was still fast asleep. Shepard paused to consider her erstwhile comrade. So far she knew very little of the woman's motivations besides the fact that she was Cerberus. If Shepard was perfectly honest with herself, keeping Miranda around was a good way to get a knife in the back. At the moment Shepard resolved to keep a close eye on her 'friend'. Shepard resolved that a trip to the medical bay would probably be the best course of action for Miranda. While Miranda had not exhibited any symptoms of brainwashing or neural damage it couldn't hurt to be careful especially since Miranda was Shepard's only link to Cerberus and the reason she had been brought back.

Gently nudging Miranda had the desired effect of waking her up and the undesirable effect of causing her to point the pistol she still had clutched in her hand at Shepard. After a moment Miranda lowered the weapon looking at Shepard with puzzlement.

"Where are we?"

"That's quite a long story. How are you feeling?"

"Apart from a massive headache alright. What happened to the facility?"

"Destroyed by the Collectors. Do you remember anything about what your father was trying to do to you."

"I think," Miranda paused for a moment before continuing, "they didn't have enough time to do any serious damage. They started with the standard regime of sleep deprivation and drugs. By the time you found me they were only just moving on to cognitive manipulation."

"How come you know so much about mental manipulation?"

"Interrogation techniques and resisting them were part of standard Cerberus training for someone in my position."

"You know Miranda that you never told me what that position was or what you were doing with me, beyond bringing me back to life."

"Most of that's classified. I don't know how much I can tell you without the Illusive Man's permission."

"So you report to the Illusive Man."

"How did you know that?" Replied Miranda, taken aback.

"You mentioned getting his approval which means that you're quite high in the Cerberus hierarchy. It was also a bluff."

"I see you never were just a simple soldier."

"If I was simple I wouldn't be here right now."

"And you still haven't bothered to fill me in on where we are."

"Well, since neither of us trust each other someone has to start."

"Shepard, let's get something straight." Miranda interrupted. "I've seen your service record and I've seen you in action first hand. I don't know why you came back for me when you could certainly have escaped the facility with far more ease. At the moment you're the only person I can really trust."

"I also happen to be the only person around period." Shepard added.

"I should be more up front with you, Shepard, but old habits die hard. There will also be some things that I won't be able to tell you. First, I was leader of the cell dedicated to bringing you back. As a result I don't have a lot of knowledge of the other operations Cerberus has been involved with recently. The Illusive Man funnelled a significant quantity of resources and knowledge into the Lazarus project long before the current crisis started. I think he always wanted to be able to have you as a Cerberus asset."

"A Cerberus asset? What made him think I would play along?"

"I don't know. That wasn't my responsibility but I do know that the Illusive Man is quite skilled in getting what he wants. Despite all this I was aware that he intended to use you to deal with the current crisis."

"What crisis?"

"Human colonies are going missing all across the galaxy and we don't know why."

"You don't have any leads? Which colonies have been abducted?"

"The acts are totally random and as best as we can determine the attackers aren't interested in any of the technology or equipment."

"That doesn't sound like any known group."

"There is one Slaver group who has a special interest in both you and humanity in general."

"The Collectors."

"Yes. We need to make contact with Cerberus and the Illusive Man immediately."

"Unfortunately that isn't going to happen."

"What do you mean Shepard? You've acknowledged that the Collectors are a threat. The only ones who can help you are Cereberus. The Council and the Alliance are content to ignore the problem just like they did with the Reapers." Miranda responded angrily as she rose, somewhat unsteadily to her feet.

"Circumstances dictate that we have to run on a comms blackout."

Miranda glanced around the bridge, taking in its size and the fact that they were travelling at FTL.

"Shepard, where are we exactly?" Miranda asked in a voice tinged with nervousness.

"That Reaper that your father thought he'd found turned out to be a Prothean dreadnaught."

"You're joking right?"

"Hardly. It also happens to be a dreadnaught with enough advanced technology to make the Normandy look like a paper airplane."

"Where are we going then?"

"To the Mu Relay and from there to an Asteroid field near Ilos."

"We should be getting this ship and its technology back to Cerberus so that it can be duplicated."

"First off I still don't trust Cerberus and secondly I don't think Sira would enjoy being studied."

"Who exactly is Sira?" Miranda asked, confused.

Sira took the opportunity to flash into existence behind Miranda.

"I am Sira and I am the personification of this ship."

Miranda spun around to take in the AI's form, her eyes narrowing.

"You're an AI aren't you?"

"I most assuredly am Operative Lawson."

"You know my designation?"

"I know a lot more than that about you. For example;" Sira responded gesturing at the hologram which shifted to an image of Miranda, evidently recording a personal log.

"Day 700. Wilson continues to make progress with Shepard but that damn fool almost cost us the entire project when she woke up today. His calculations almost cost Shepard her life. Shepard is quite an impressive woman to able to fight through that much sedative." The Miranda in the recording seemed to pause for a moment. "She looked at me when she woke up. There was something strange about that look. I also got the feeling that the drugs weren't what caused her to accept the sedation but I don't know why. Wilson also appears to be acting strangely. I think we should consider liquidation as soon as he finishes with Shepard. That man knows too much about her and the organization in general. On a personal note my contacts on Illium tell me that Oriana is doing well. I just wish that I could see her sometime. End Log."

The playback ended abruptly. Miranda's jaw worked for several moments before she could utter any words.

"Those logs were highly confidential. They weren't just protected by Cerberus firewalls they were personally encrypted. How did you get them? Who gave you access?"

"Is it so hard to believe that I could access them myself?" Sira replied, evidently completely unphased by Miranda's outburst.

"I don't know of anyone or anything that could hack into that level of the Cerberus network without help."

"Would it surprise you to know that most of your cybernetic breakthroughs weren't the work of your techs but my designs?"

"So in short you're saying that you had completely compromised my operation."

"That's exactly what Sira is saying. I for one am glad to have her on our side rather than working against us." Shepard interjected. "With Sira's help we have an opportunity to tip the balance in our favour against the Reapers."

"A single warship is irrelevant to the broader interests at stake."

"What broader interests?" Shepard interrupted, "Cerberus interests? I don't intend to let myself be led around by Cerberus against my will and I certainly don't intend to surrender Sira to them. So that leaves you with two choices. You can either accept it or you can leave."

"You already know what my answer has to be. My mission was to bring you back to deal with the current crisis. I'm not going anywhere but you can be sure that you haven't had the last word on this subject."

"Alright Miranda we have to agree to disagree. Since you're the only organic being on this ship we have to work together."

"You could start by bringing me into the loop with what you have planned."

"We're going to the Refuge system to find a cache of arms and spare parts for Sira. You and I will have to infiltrate the Prothean research facility to recover some specific materials."

"What materials are those?"

"You've made your loyalties perfectly clear which means I can't tell you except to say that they're volatile weapons components and therefore very dangerous."

"I don't like being kept out of the loop Shepard. I just hope you decide to stop keeping secrets before either of us is in serious trouble."

"We drop in 5 hours. I suggest you get some rest. Sira can direct you to your quarters."

Miranda fixed Shepard with a cold glare before storming, somewhat unsteadily off the bridge.

"We're going to have problems with that one Emma." Sira murmured softly as soon as Miranda was out of earshot.

"Miranda isn't the real danger. She can be trusted to act in a predictable manner."

"How can you be sure?"

"Miranda is the type of person to put the needs of her mission ahead of her personal feelings. Since I am the mission she'll follow me up until the point that she can betray me back to Cerberus or I do something that compromises Cerberus interests."

"I hope you're right Shepard."

"I do too Sira. I just wish there was some way I could sway her away from Cerberus."

"You should get some rest Emma."

Shepard nodded feeling both physically and emotionally drained as she stepped into the elevator.

The lift arrived at what appeared to be a habitation deck. The deck was closer in appearance to the elaborate design of the Citadel than what one would expect to find on a ship of war. The hallway was wide with a series of statues situated in a garden that stretched the length of the hallway. Shepard practically gapped at the opulence. The first door on her left bore a handful of Prothean characters denoting the commander's cabin.

Stepping inside the cabin Shepard was surprised to find the cabin to be more akin to an apartment on a planet than a shipboard cabin. The entrance area was composed of a small pond with a fountain and several alien looking waterplants. Behind entrance lay a sitting area with several armchairs and sofas. At the rear of the cabin a rather complex galley space was accompanied by dining area. Closed doors denoted the presence of a bedroom, office and bathroom. To Shepard the cabin was closer to what she had imagined a planet bound house to be like. The cabin was illuminated by the a set of massive skylights which stretched the entire length of the room. The skylights allowed the mottled hues of FTL to cast everything into an bluish glow.

"Sira, this is amazing. Are all the cabins like this?"

"Only those of the senior officers are this large. Junior officers have a simple bedroom and washroom with office space. Enlisted personnel have common bunking areas shared among four people."

"Were all Prothean vessels like this?"

"No. The _Voice_ was made to be unique. A showcase of Prothean art and aesthetics rather than a simple warship."

"Well you can colour me impressed Sira. Now I intend to take advantage of that real water shower you no doubt have hidden away in the bathroom and catch some shut eye. Can you wake me when we're about an hour out from Ilos."

"It would be my pleasure. Have a restful night."

With that final comment Sira flashed out of existence as Shepard headed for her bathroom preparatory to finally get some rest.

A/N: The State of the Fiction: The scope and vision of this story is epic in nature. This portion is really just the prologue. We have 12 chapters in total so that means only four more to go. By this point some of you have guessed by the rapid updates that this Prologue has been completely written. Each chapter requires a significant amount of editing which is what takes the time and of course I have real-life concerns to deal with! I can, however, promise all my loyal readers that the prologue will be uploaded for your viewing pleasure by the end of this month or perhaps early in August. As an added spoiler I am already 50k words into the first book with a clear idea of the second and third offerings!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I had a bit of trouble copying this document so please let me know if there has been any duplication of the content in this chapter. Anyway this chapter has Shepard returning to Ilos. Needless to say she runs into something familiar on the planet.

Chapter IX

Shepard drifted back to consciousness with Sira's voice.

"Emma, we are about to reach the Mu relay."

"Mmmm, so soon?" Shepard groaned.

"Unfortunately yes. Miranda is already on her way to the command deck. I have also left you some off duty uniforms that you may be comfortable with."

The uniforms were the standard shipboard fair of a t-shirt and pants coloured with the same black and red highlights as Shepard's armour.

Stepping into the main room of her quarters she noticed that the skylights offered her a stunning view of a passing nebula. A sweet aroma led Shepard to a pot of something which smelt suspiciously like tea and a plate of pasties. The tea was sweet without being overwhelming while the pasties appeared to be filled with something that tasted vaguely of nuts. Shepard realized that this was her first solid food since awakening in the Cerberus laboratory as she polished off the plate of pasties.

Arriving on the bridge she noticed Miranda frowning at the space surrounding the Mu Relay.

"Something's wrong Shepard." Were the first words out of Miranda's mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"The relay is usually guarded by a cluster of defence satellites yet Sira has detected no sign of any ships, satellites or debris."

"Sira do we have any power to weapons and defences?"

"We have secondary mass accelerator batteries, and my torpedo tubes are online. The barriers are also at full charge. Do you expect a fight?" Sira replied as she ran through the checklist of her combat systems

"It never hurts to be prepared. We might as well head through and see what's waiting for us on the other side."

"You intend to head into whatever trap is waiting for us on the other side?" Miranda added incredulously.

"Of course. This isn't exactly an unarmed freighter. We should be more than well enough equipped to deal with whatever is waiting for us on the other side."

"Heading through the relay." Sira reported back.

Shepard felt the telltale tug as the _Voice of Memory_ was seized by the gravity of the Mu relay and hurled the immense distance from the relay to Ilos. Moments later the dreadnaught shuddered again as it emerged from the Mu Relay's partner in the Refuge.

Shepard watched in consternation as the dreadnaught passed through a cloud of debris as it cleared the relay. It was clear to both her and Miranda that whatever automated defences surrounding the Mu Relay had been destroyed and subsequently drawn through by the aggressor vessel to this end of the relay. It still didn't solve the mystery of the aggressor's identity.

"Sira, take us in a sweep past Ilos. If the attacking vessel is still here it would probably be in orbit of the planet."

"Shepard, I have plotted a course for Ilos but my sensors aren't reading any vessels in the area."

"Except the massive blind spot behind the planet where whatever it is could be hiding. Plot us an oblique course to the planet so that we can scan the blind spot without exposing ourselves to attack and make sure our stealth systems are properly tuned and functioning this time. We don't want to give our position away too early."

Several minutes later Shepard's prudence had paid off as the sensors exposed a pair of mercenary frigates orbiting the planet. Both frigates continued to hide inside the planet's shadow, blissfully unaware of the massive dreadnaught heading towards them.

"It seems as though you were correct Shepard. Two frigates have been detected both of which appear to be of human design but don't appear to conform to Alliance specifications."

"Well Miranda, any idea who our uninvited guests are?"

"From their hull markings they appear to be affiliated with the Blue Suns but that doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"The Blue Suns wouldn't be interested in attacking a Council funded archaeological project. Also those frigates couldn't have taken down the defences by themselves."

"So they had help. Help which could have left the system by this point. I intend to hit them before they realize we're here. Sira, what is the status of the primary armament?"

"The main guns are primed with solid slugs and are ready to fire."

"Hold on a moment Sira. Did you say guns? As in more than one? All council race dreadnaughts only have a single main battery." Miranda interrupted.

"The _Voice of Memory_ is equipped with three spinal mounted mass accelerators capable of loading a variety of submunitions. My firepower is only surpassed by that of a fully grown Reaper. I also have a firing solution on both frigates."

"Excellent Sira. If either ship attempts to move out of the cover of the planet take it out. In the meantime can you deploy a communications buoy?"

"What are you planning Shepard?" Miranda asked, clearly perplexed by Shepard's reluctance to destroy the two frigates.

"We have to figure out what those two frigates are doing. If we drop a communications buoy then we can send them a transmission without them being able to target us. It also means they won't attempt to run when we do reveal ourselves."

"Why not simply destroy them?"

"You're awfully bloodthirsty Miranda. Intelligence comes first. We can always destroy them later." Shepard replied.

"Comm buoy away." Sira reported back.

"See if you can get me a comm channel to both frigates."

"You're on Shepard"

"Attention unidentified raiders, we have you targeted and are prepared to fire if you make the slightest movement. Moving from your current position or failing to respond to this transmission will result in your immediate destruction. You have thirty seconds to respond." Shepard finished.

The reply was immediate and demonstrated that Shepard's opposite number was a pragmatic sort. Neither frigate made any move as the comm crackled to life.

"Transmitting vessel reveal yourself immediately or we will disregard your first transmission." Was the curt response.

Shepard nodded to Sira to deactivate the stealth systems. She would have enjoyed seeing the look on the mercenaries' faces when they found themselves staring down the _Voice's _mass accelerators.

"Unknown vessel we are prepared to acquiesce to your demands. What do you want?"

"Since you and I both agree that I have your ships dead to rights here is what I propose; you recover your ground teams from the planet, you leave any plunder behind and we escort you back to the relay after which you're free to go. In return for my generosity you transmit all information about your attack on this system, your employer's identity and your activities on the surface of Ilos to me. You have sixty seconds to respond." And with that Shepard cut the transmission.

"I certainly hope you don't plan on letting them go."

"If I don't let them go and someone survives then my word is meaningless. I trust I don't need to explain why that's important." Shepard replied giving Miranda a cold stare.

"The frigates are recovering their landing craft." Sira noted, interrupting the standoff between the two women. "They have also sent me an encoded data packet which should take me some time to sort out. As far as I can tell the mercenaries were recruited by intermediaries."

"Good work Sira. Engage the stealth systems and keep an eye on the frigates. One false move and you can take them out. Miranda and I will be heading to the shuttle bay."

Shepard still hadn't forgotten Miranda's insubordination which promised to make the upcoming mission an interesting one.

Several minutes later Shepard was strapping herself into the pilot's seat of the infiltration shuttle. The shuttle was unlike anything Shepard had piloted or even seen before. On the exterior the shuttle was pure black carrying a set of forward swept wings near its bow. The tail tapered into a sharp point making the shuttle look like a cross between a trident and a bird of prey. Miranda settled into the seat beside Shepard after having checked their gear. All that remained was to depressurize the bay and open the hangar doors to space.

"The mercenary frigates have left the system. You should be clear to land on the planet." Sira remarked over the comm.

"Alright Sira, you can head to the depot in the asteroid field as soon as we're clear but keep a comm line open."

"Confirmed."

As the hatch opened to space Shepard eased the shuttle out into the void. The shuttle was surprisingly responsive and handled smoothly on the flight to the surface. The landing passed without incident or conversation with her co-pilot and it was not until they were on the surface of Ilos that Miranda broke her silence.

"No welcoming party. That certainly is unusual."

"What do you mean Miranda?"

"That research outpost we passed on our way here would surely have noticed us passing over head and yet there isn't any sign of anyone. No security, no gunfire, not even an offer to surrender. Nothing."

"You're right Miranda. There is something suspicious about this situation. Especially since those mercenary shuttles were lifting off from the main complex. We should make a quick detour past the outpost." Shepard replied as she sealed a standard rebreather helmet over her head.

Miranda did the same as the stepped out of the shuttle and on to the surface of Ilos. Shepard removed her assault rifle and scanned the area as Miranda brought up the rear.

The outpost was only a five minute walk from their landing zone and a cursory examination confirmed their earlier suspicions. The outpost seemed totally deserted. What was most telling was the fact that several of the computer consoles were still running and had not even had time to automatically power down. As Shepard and Miranda made their way into the larger building of the outpost Shepard noticed a stain on one of the walls. Rather than being blood the stain was more organic and almost reminiscent of plant sap.

"I don't like this Shepard. It looks like everyone just dropped what they were doing and got up and left. They left their clothing, research, even their food uneaten. From the looks of it seems as though they left relatively recently." Miranda whispered.

"I've got a hunch about what may be behind the disappearance but I need you to check the mainframe while I snoop around a bit more." Shepard replied.

Miranda nodded swiftly and ducked into a nearby server room to see what records she could uncover. Shepard cautiously continued her sweep through the building. Most of the rooms were simple monotonous prefab workrooms, sleeping quarters, and a mess hall. It was not until she reached the air processors that she found something suspicious. Lying on the floor was another puddle of sap. The air processor room was completely dark with no lights on whatsoever. The blackness made a stark contrast to the otherwise ordinary rooms throughout the rest of the facility. Shepard hit her comms.

"Miranda? Do you read me?"

Silence was her only response. There wasn't even the telltale hiss of jamming. Wherever Miranda was she wasn't answering her comm. Turning around to look for Miranda Shepard was surprised when the entire building was plunged into complete darkness. Toggling her helmet's night-vision the hallways were illuminated in bright green. There was no apparent cause for the power blackout apart from Shepard having opened the door to the air processors. As Shepard scanned the hallway she heard an electronic grumble from down the hall. It was a sound she knew well and it was almost always associated with Geth. She didn't have to wait long before a pair of standard Geth drones marched into the hallway and opened fire with their assault rifles. Shepard easily returned fire on the Geth dispatching them quickly but before she had a chance to secure her position she was under fire from another pair of Geth. Unlike the previous duo these two took cover and were laying down surprisingly accurate fire on her position. Shepard was left with no choice but to retreat into the air processing room.

Taking cover behind the door jamb Shepard returned fire at her antagonists but before she could send them to silicon hell the pressure door between her room and the hallway slammed shut very nearly taking off her hand and making short work of her assault rifle. Yank her pistol from its holster Shepard cursed the Geth and the quarians who had programmed them. It almost never failed that when dealing with all things Prothean homicidal Geth would appear from nowhere. At least it seemed to be a rule for her.

Scanning her surroundings Shepard noted that despite the darkness the room was totally ordinary. Shepard moved quietly away from the door and deeper into the room in search of a computer terminal or at least a light switch. The room was divided by several ventilator towers which served to de-contaminate the air for the facility but now only served to obscure Shepard's view of the rear of the room. As Shepard wound her way around one of the cooling fans she heard a soft crunch. Shepard came to a complete stop. Something was in the room with her. At the time it didn't occur to Shepard that the room was structurally unsound. It was only when the floor gave way beneath her that she realized the crunch had been the floor giving way.

Plunging from one black void into another didn't do much for Shepard's day. Shepard's fall came to a sudden halt as she impacted the ground in a cloud of dust and debris. As she landed her head viciously slammed into one of the walls causing her vision to swim. This had the unfortunate side effect of completely shorting out her helmet's night vision. Shepard rolled on to her back with groan and stared into the blackness. Fumbling with a pocket in her armour she yanked out a miniature flare. Igniting bathed her current predicament in an unnatural reddish glow. Shepard found herself in what appeared to be a sub-basement of the outpost or a part of the Prothean ruins. She couldn't really tell which it was. She had apparently landed in some sort of cul de sac and the worst part was that her pistol had gone missing in the landing. Not only did she have a limited supply of light, she was almost completely defenceless and she was almost certainly lost. Yanking off her helmet as she climbed to her feet she fumbled her knife out of her boot. A little added insurance on a mission never hurt. She also cursed herself for having left Sira's sword back on the ship.

With a hiss the flare went out causing Shepard to ignite another one. Starting down the hall with the flare in one hand and her knife in the other Shepard attempted to gauge where she had landed. Her initial assumption that she had landed in a sub-basement was proving to false as the rooms appeared quite dusty. As she reached the end of the hallway she found a set of stairs which descended deeper into the depths of the ruins.

The darkness was beginning to make her skin crawl and she had found herself starting at shadows more than once as she proceeded through the deserted corridors. Each hallway looked the same and she could only hope she was make progress instead of going around in circles. Her supply of flares was also beginning to dwindle. Rounding a corner Shepard found the corridor widening into an atrium of sorts. While some of the adjoining hallways were choked with rubble the one at the end of the hall seemed to be clear. Moving at a jog Shepard had reached the end of the atrium when she began to hear footsteps from behind her. Spinning on her heel the light of her flare failed to illuminate anything behind her. The noise came again from the opposite direction, this time accompanied by a groan. Spinning around to confront her assailant revealed nothing. Shepard was beginning to sweat by this point as the shadows seemed to close in on her. The shuffling began to get louder but still Shepard could perceive nothing around her. With an alarming sputter the flare went out. It was Shepard's last. The groans and shuffling were getting louder now. Shepard drew on her last remaining source of illumination. As her biotics flared to life the room and its occupants were plunged into a purple glow. She was sharing the room with what appeared to be a dozen newly arrived Creepers.

The Creeper was a twisted mockery of life that Shepard had first encountered on Feros during her hunt for Saren. They were the end result of exposure to the spores of the sentient plant known as a Thorian. The presence of Creepers meant that Ilos was also home to a Thorian. It also meant that Shepard was in deep trouble. Readying her knife she slowly approached the shambling Creepers. The first one to attack her was a thoroughly disgusting specimen with its flesh dried into a twisted grin. It attempted to grab a hold of Shepard only to have her slice its arm clean off. It stumbled away only to be replaced by two of its equally hideous brethren. A quick biotic throw sent one of the two bouncing off the wall while a slash from Shepard's knife eviscerated the second. In the confusion Shepard failed notice the arrival of more Creepers from behind her. One rapidly grabbed hold of her from behind and sent them both sprawling on the ground. The surprise of the attack caused Shepard to lose focus allowing her biotic corona to dissipate plunging the room into darkness. After a hasty scuffle Shepard was able to bury her knife in the creatures body. In the darkness something snatched a hold of her hair and yanked her backwards. The same hold on her hair drove her head forward into the unyielding surface of the floor. Shepard's vision went from complete darkness to complete unconsciousness.

Moments later she felt herself swimming back into consciousness as she was being rather unceremoniously dragged by her arms through the blackness. It was quite clear that she was going to meet the Thorian. Fortunately she didn't have to wait long. She was dragged into a large chamber which was lit only by what appeared to be the Thorian's own bio-luminescence. The air was filled with noxious scent of decaying plant matter. From what Shepard could see of her surroundings she was surrounded by hundreds of Creepers and what remained of the research team. The pair of Creepers dragging her along abruptly dropped her in front of, what she perceived to be the beast's face. Shepard pulled herself into a kneeling position but made it no further as the hands of the Creepers placed a firm grip on her shoulders. The Thorian merely impassively stared at its latest guest. As she knelt there waiting the Thorian impatiently slapped a massive tentacle down in front of her. The oozing appendage slithered towards Shepard. The approaching tentacle caused Shepard to attempt to scrabble out of its way but the hands of the Creepers were simple to strong and they had no trouble in holding her. The tentacle came to a halt in front of her and for several minutes seemed to be completely motionless. As she stared at the appendage Shepard realized that it was beginning to divide and sprout into a number of smaller appendages. Shepard knew exactly what was about to happen next having seen it nearly first hand on Feros. The new tentacles were forming themselves into a pod through which would serve the dual purpose of linking Shepard to the consciousness of the Thorian and allowing it to keep her immobile.

As she was wrapped in her thoughts and her consideration of the tentacles before her Shepard failed to notice one of the tentacles snaking around behind her. It wasn't until the appendage had made its way up the back of her armour that Shepard noticed its presence. As Shepard attempted to twist free the limb darted up her neck and wrapped itself around her forehead. As Shepard desperately attempted to free herself she felt a prickling sensation all long the length of the tentacle's length. The sensation gradually morphed into a dull burning pain in her head. With a scream Shepard's vision was subsumed into a blaze of white light.

Shepard's thoughts were fuzzy as though travelling through molasses. She was conscious of being in close proximity to another consciousness. The blackness gradually resolved itself into a series of flashes of memory. Various points in her life were being shown to her and also to the Thorian. After a few moments of memories a voice rumbled through her mind.

"You now address the Thorian of Ilos. Few of your kind are ever allowed to address me. Then again most of your kind are worthless scraps of flesh fit only for fodder."

"What have you done to me?" Shepard inquired cautiously.

"I have granted you the supreme honour of being my avatar among those of flesh. You would do well to appreciate this honour."

"So you intend to use clones of my physical form to speak to the galaxy while I remain imprisoned here?"

Its booming laughter was Shepard's first response.

"So simple and primitive. I find it hard to believe one as insignificant as you ever destroyed one of the Old Growth. I do not intend to keep you prisoner I intend to dissolve your body and mind into my form. A fitting punishment for murder."

It took several moments for Shepard to formulate a response to that last comment.

"The Thorian on Feros that I killed left me no alternative."

"Which is precisely why I did not kill you immediately or make you into one of my thralls. Do not attempt to resist your fate for I will not be swayed by your entreaties."

Shepard was well and truly and ensnared by this beast. Her only advantage was the fact that the Thorian would spend a long time digesting her if its other processes were anything to go by. As Shepard felt the Thorian's consciousness drift away to another part of its existence a memory of Sira drifted back to her. Sira had been telling her about the nanites that had been implanted along with the additional cybernetic implants during her joining. Sira had reminded her that the nanites could be adapted to any sort of task and could convert biological matter into copies of themselves. Shepard gradually began to focus on the memory. As she did so the Thorian's consciousness was upon her with deafening force.

"So you would seek to blight me with a mechanical plague? You would kill yourself in the process."

"Since you intend to kill me anyway I don't have anything to lose." Shepard gloated.

"I have watched enough of your short lives to know that there are two kinds of organic. Their sounds are much like the winds through the reeds. There are those who make pretty music but are ultimately hollow and there are those who carry a simple tune but are ultimately solid. You Commander Shepard are a reed with a solid tune."

"Why is it that I get the sense that this was some sort of test?"

"I gave you the only test that truly mattered. What would you do in a situation with no escape but death or slavery? Would you acquiesce? Would you attempt to bargain? Would attempt to fight a pointless battle or would you alter the terms of the engagement to benefit you? You are as I thought worthy."

"So you just wanted to test me?"

"Not exactly. You bore the mark of the other Thorian on Feros which first attracted my interest. I was interested in absorbing your entity and memories. I do not need to wipe away your mind or physical form for a copy of your memories and the memories of the other Thorian."

"I only have memories of Cipher and its interactions with the Protheans."

"No Shepard, you have all of its memories you just don't know it just as the sacrifice does not."

"Sacrifice? You mean the asari Shi'ala?"

"Only the worthy earn the right to recognition by a name. Your mind is not able to understand these alien memories and thus keeps them locked away. The only way I can communicate with you is by absorbing your memories to create a frame of reference."

"I suppose I won't begrudge you the memories so long as you let me go. Otherwise the nanites will destroy us both."

"Since you have passed my test and I have all I need from you I will release you, for now."

"I want you to release the colonists!"

"Since you leave me no alternative I will release them but on one condition."

"Name it."

"That you bring me some other fodder for my future growth. Before you attempt to deny my request on your primitive moral grounds know that this is non-negotiable."

"How could I condemn a sentient being to this life?"

"You and I both know that there are those who are not worthy of their sentience. The ones with guns and flame who attacked the other fodder on the planet are just one such example. The cold ones who tried to kill the Old Growth on Feros are another."

"I'll consider it."

"In order to seal our compact I will leave you with a memento. A small independent vestige of my consciousness shall accompany you to ensure that you do not forget our agreement. It will lodge itself in your memories. It will remain silent until the appropriate time. You will not even remember that it is there."

"I accept your terms then."

"Before I release you I give unto you a warning. The war between the meat and the metal ones has been going on for as long as our race can remember. The machines have always won. Thanks to your predecessors you have an opportunity to tip the balance in favour of the meat. Know that you are the right person to accomplish the task. Goodbye Shepard."

The consciousness receded once more and Shepard's mind drifted into oblivion.

A/N: The next chapter should be up tomorrow at around the same time so stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: A big shout goes out to paxm, the only person who bothered reviewing the last chapter! While I didn't demand a set number of reviews per chapter they certainly do help. Few reviews makes me wonder if A) People are still interested B) The last chapter was sub par or C) People are just taking the fic for granted. If the answer is B please let me know so I can improve the rest of my work! Anyway, in this chapter Legion finally puts in an appearance and Shepard finally has it out with Miranda for having a Bastila complex. Enjoy!

Chapter X

Shepard came awake again with a start. As far she could tell she was somewhere in the wilds of Ilos. Glancing around her she found no sign of Creepers or the Thorian at all. It appeared as though her threat of unleashing the nanites on the Thorian was enough to secure her freedom. Surprisingly she also found that an antigrav sled complete with five barrels and her pistol sitting neatly atop them. It was without doubt the work of the Thorian's minions but the question of why it would go to such lengths to aid her still puzzled Shepard. As she was standing there she was overtaken by a sudden wave of nausea and fell to her knees wretching violently. It appeared as though the exchange of fluids and the mental link with the Thorian came with a number of unpleasant side effects. Shakily regaining her feet she collected her pistol and holstered it.

To Shepard's mind she had two goals to complete before she could leave Ilos behind. She first had to secure the Voltarium that the Thorian had provided her. After that she could see about finding Miranda. Despite the fact that there were loose Geth on the planet and despite their short acquaintance Shepard was almost certain that Miranda was still alive.

Shepard was startled from her thoughts by the crack of a twig from behind her. Spinning around she found a lone Geth eyeing her. Its weapons were holstered but that didn't stop Shepard from drawing her own pistol and training it on the drone. The two stood staring each other down for several moments before the Geth made any sort of movement. Several of its head plates arranged themselves in a gesture that suggested inquisitiveness. What was most surprising was that the Geth spoke.

"Shepard-Commander" the Geth addressed her.

Shepard's jaw worked for a few minutes from the shear shock of a Geth speaking to her.

"Who? What are you?" Shepard finally managed.

"We are Geth. We have been tracking a cell of heretic Geth in this system. It is unexpected to find you. It is also unexpected to find you alive." The Geth replied in a monotone.

"Why are we speaking? What's more how do you know who I am?"

"We are speaking because that is the primary form of information exchange between organics and advanced synthetics, such as Geth. The Geth are aware of your actions concerning the heretics and the Old Machines."

"You didn't answer my first question."

"That is because the first question posed to this platform was not specific. According to our analysis the intent behind your line of inquiry was to ascertain whether you shared common goals with this platform. To respond to that question the answer is yes."

"What common goals do I share with you?" Shepard asked incredulously.

"To defeat the old machines, to eliminate the heretic Geth, to uncover their interests in this planet and in this area specifically." The Geth listed.

"You mentioned the Old Machines?"

"The organic moniker for them is Reapers. You personally were involved in the destruction of the one known as Sovereign. We calculate a high percentage probability that you seek to end their threat permanently. That makes our goals compatible." The machine concluded in a matter of fact manner.

"Alright, so we have a shared interest. How do you propose to help me?"

"We have intelligence concerning the heretic camp and drop ship. We also have intelligence concerning the other organic that arrived with you."

"What about Miranda?"

"The organic you designate as Miranda was last seen shadowing the heretics."

"Why the devil would she be following a hoard of Geth?"

"Our supposition is that she wished to ascertain whether or not you had been captured by the heretics and following that to discover why the heretics were interested in this particular facility."

"Do you have any 'suppositions' about why the clankers were interested facility yourself?"

The Geth cocked its head at the last statement and its head plates approximated the appearance of a frown.

"The term 'clankers' does not appear in my lexicon. Please clarify its meaning and use."

"Clankers as in hostile Geth."

"Lexicon updated. Thank you for clarification. Our supposition is that the heretics were interested in a Prothean database concerning Reaper observations from the time of their fall."

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. You and I are going to get this sled back to my ship. We are then going to rescue Miranda from whatever mess she has gotten herself into. After that we'll scrap your heretics and recover the database. Is that acceptable?"

The Geth paused for a moment and considered.

"All runtimes favour this course of action. We have consensus."

The Geth waited patiently as Shepard holstered her pistol and then slowly approached the sled.

"We can interface remotely with the sled controls and navigate it by remote to your ship."

"That's surprisingly useful. Thank you." Shepard said with genuine gratitude.

As the sled bobbed away on its mass effect field the Geth gestured in the direction of the heretic's camp. The two fell into step as the Geth unholstered an assault rifle and wordlessly handed it Shepard. Surprised at the synthetic's generosity Shepard took the weapon with a polite nod.

As the unlikely pair made their way through an overgrown grove of trees Shepard found herself wondering if the Thorian had released its human thralls. Shepard was also beginning to doubt the agreement with the Thorian. To her it smacked of selfishness and manipulation. While the Thorian had upheld its end of the deal so far it didn't mean that it wouldn't try something later on. As they crested a rise Shepard set her thoughts to the side. Soon enough they would be facing the Geth and it wouldn't do to be bogged down in moralizing. The Geth held up a manipulator indicating that they should stop.

"Shepard-Commander we are approaching heretic base camp."

"What's the layout like?"

"The heretics have encamped in a basic circle and fortified their position with drones and mobile turrets. We have two advantages. First we have the element of surprise in that we can strike from two directions simultaneously. Second the heretic mobile platforms suffer from a shortage of runtimes."

"What do you mean by that last part? Are you implying that they're going to be less adept than the average Geth?"

"Precisely. Since Geth skill is dependent on the number of runtimes in a given platform or area the lack of runtimes reduces their processing efficiency and therefore their skill."

"Out of curiosity how many runtimes do you have?"

"This platform is currently host to 1,183 separate runtimes."

"Is that a lot?"

"It is sufficient" the Geth replied cryptically and left it at that.

"Alright I'll circle the camp and see if I can find Miranda. You stay put. I'll contact you when I'm ready to advance. Okay?"

"Confirmed." The Geth replied simply as it removed its sniper rifle from its back.

Shepard cautiously set off to circle the base. The Geth had been right about the configuration of the base. The insect-like Geth drop-ship sat in the middle of the base while various gun drones drifted around it like dust motes on an unseen wind. A few pre-fabricated structures had been deployed. As Shepard manoeuvred around the camp she noted a small grassy hillock that would provide excellent cover. As she approached the hillock she noticed that someone was already using it for cover. As Shepard slowly approached the crouching figure she was unsurprised to find Miranda.

"Leave it to an insurgent to pick the best vantage point." Shepard murmured as she approached the prone woman.

Miranda spun around pointing her pistol at Shepard.

"Shepard?" She asked, confused, "What happened to you?"

"I fell down a hole, found a Thorian, negotiated my freedom, found a talking Geth and decided to find you. How's your day been?"

"You know if you don't want to tell me you could just say that. You don't have to lie to me." Miranda replied crossly.

"Keep it down Miranda. We don't want those Geth drawing a bead on us."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Pick a target and open fire." Shepard remarked, casually as she drew several grenades out of her dispenser.

Miranda nodded her assent and lined the sights of her assault rifle on several of the drones.

Shepard began to covertly flick several of grenades onto the structures and the drop ship itself. Exhausting her supply of grenades she flashed the omni-tool interface and detonated the explosives. The ensuing destruction was impressive. The two pre-fab shelters burst in to flame while the drop-ship shook on its landing legs. Numerous Geth and their drones began to mill about in confusion as Miranda opened fire with her assault rifle. The Geth began to fall from the storm of rifle fire but some of their luckier compatriots took shelter and began to return fire.

Most of the flimsy drones had been taken out during the initial attack leaving only the walking Geth who were proving to be somewhat more difficult to eliminate. The Geth that had taken cover were gradually picked off either by the combined fire from Shepard and Miranda or the shots from Shepard's Geth ally. Soon the gunfire died away leaving only the crackling of flames and the acrid smoke of destroyed synthetics.

Shepard cautiously emerged from cover followed shortly by Miranda. As the two made their way into the camp they were greeted with only silence punctuated by the crackle of fire. Shepard made her way over to the Geth drop-ship. The drop-ship itself was almost totally ruined and had tilted at a 45 degree angle to one side. Luckily for Shepard and Miranda the crates of the Geth's cargo were still sitting outside the ship. Shepard prised one open to find an ancient looking Prothean data storage device.

"Pay-dirt" Shepard muttered with a grin.

Miranda was about to agree with her when Shepard's Geth emerged from the smoke of the debris, its weapons holstered. Miranda trained her own weapon on the Geth only to have the barrel batted to the side by Shepard.

"Hold your fire Miranda. This one's on our side."

"What do you mean on our side? Geth aren't on anyone's side!" Miranda shouted as she trained her weapon on the Geth once more.

"Shepard-Commander is correct. We mean you no harm." The Geth calmly intoned.

"A talking Geth? You sure have a knack for finding strange friends Shepard." Miranda replied, lowering the barrel of her weapon ever so slightly.

"I don't find strange friends they find me." Shepard added smirking widely. Miranda's jaw worked at the implication of Shepard's last comment and her obvious distaste at being lumped in with a Geth but she declined to add anything more to the conversation.

The Geth marched over to the crate and hoisted it into its arms with no apparent difficulty. Shepard took the opportunity to survey the other finds. The other crate held a series of pocket sized storage devices most of which were of Geth manufacture while the third crate contained an extremely ornate crystal encased in interwoven metal designs. Whether or not the crystal was merely a Prothean objet d'art or served some practical function was a question for another time as Shepard shoved both the crystal and the OSDs into any empty ammo pouch. Gesturing to her two companions they began their trek back to the shuttle.

Miranda never took her eyes off the Geth during the whole trip back but did, eventually, decide to holster her weapon. The Geth, for its part, completely ignored Miranda and carried the crate without complaint. When they finally reached the shuttle and the Geth had loaded the crate Miranda voiced her discontent.

"You can't seriously be planning on taking an active Geth back to the ship!" Were the first words to break the silence.

"Last time I checked Miranda, the ship was an AI and I was cybernetically modified so I could very well be an AI as well. So if this is about bringing a non-organic onto the ship I think you better re-think your position. You're the minority onboard." Shepard replied, sarcastically.

"When you're lying on your back with a Geth bullet through your head I hope you remember this moment. I just hope I'm not there with you." Miranda seethed as she spun around and stalked into the aft of the shuttle.

Shepard was fed up. The ongoing antagonism not to mention the constant stress was beginning to get to her. She grabbed Miranda by the shoulder and spun her around.

"You may not be military Miranda but you don't just walk away from me." Shepard shouted. "Here's the deal Miranda. Like it or not I was the one that Sira picked to join with which puts me in command of the ship. It also means that I make the decisions and you don't. Consider yourself lucky you don't have that responsibility because quite frankly, it sucks. Now I'm trying to do the absolute best job I can to prevent a galactic genocide but it certainly isn't easy. In the past few weeks days I've been brought back to life, shot, kidnapped, implanted with who knows what sort of cybernetics, almost been blown up trying to rescue you, gotten a good concussion, been captured by a plant that's taken a page from the Seventh Seal, and finally found a Geth that's willing to talk to me rather than attempting to riddle me with holes. I've also had the only other human being on board the ship questioning every decision I've been making. You've wanted me to make contact with Cerberus which means giving up my independence and becoming a Cerberus lackey with no will of her own. Well forgive me if I'm a bit attached to me independence and I don't want to make a deal with the devil."

Shepard finally finished leaving Miranda staring at her with a dazed expression. Shepard had the oddest sensation that no one had ever talked to Miranda that way before. Miranda's mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. A variety of expressions played across her face but none seemed to settle.

"Save it Miranda. We have to get back to the ship. The Geth is coming with us. I gave it my word."

Shepard left Miranda in the aft compartment of the shuttle as she walked towards the flight deck. The Geth had already strapped itself in but made no comment beyond inclining its head plates towards Shepard in what she took to be a gesture of respect. Shepard strapped herself in and sealed the shuttle's hatches. She was joined moments latter by Miranda who wordlessly strapped herself in next to Shepard.

Shepard banked the shuttle towards the research station where their collective odyssey on Ilos had begun. Glancing at her scanner display she noted that life signs were once again present in the complex. Apparently the Thorian had carried through on its promise. Now all that remained was for Shepard to carry through on her promise. Shepard slewed the shuttle towards the sky and edged the throttle forward. The shuttle leapt forward and rapidly cleared the planet.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: The second to last chapter in this section! Once more a thank you to the reviewers on the last go around. The final chapter will be up later this week. Saturday at the latest. As an added incentive to review this chapter I'll throw in a teaser for the next act of the story along with the final chapter provided I get at least four or five reviews. Enjoy this chapter as it will be the last quiet moment for a little while!

Chapter XI

Surrounded once more in the inky blackness of space Shepard set the navigation controls for the _Voice of Memory_. It would take them several minutes to reach their mothership. Shepard found herself lost in thought as she stared out into the void. The last time she had been on Ilos she had been with Liara and Ashley, intent on stopping Saren from unleashing the Reaper Armageddon. Shepard vividly remembered the vicious and desperate fight with the Geth rearguard. It still surprised her that they had made it through without a scratch. She also still remembered their desperate race to the Conduit punctuated by the meeting with Vigil. Shepard almost grinned at the memory of Liara's eyes practically popping out of their sockets at the presence of the Prothean VI. She found herself wondering what Liara would think of Shepard now that she was joined to an actual Prothean AI. Would Liara carry through on her suggestion of dissecting Shepard or perhaps she would carry out that in-depth study she had always been promising? Shepard found her eyes beginning to dampen at the memories of her lost love. With all of the action and turmoil Shepard had been subjected to she hadn't had a lot of time for memories. Now that she did have time she found that it was more of a curse than a boon.

Doubts about Liara ate away at her. She was sure that by this point Liara would have moved on with her life. Shepard was after all dead to the rest of the universe and it wasn't likely that Liara knew any different. Shepard found herself toying with the idea of finding Liara and staging a dramatic return but ended up discarding the idea as being selfish and showy. If Liara had moved on then Shepard had a duty to ensure her happiness even if it meant sacrificing her own. After all it was the least she could do for the one she loved.

The console pinged to announce that they were coming up on the _Voice of Memory_ and Shepard rapidly composed herself ensuring that an emotionless mask was back in place as she addressed herself to the landing preparations.

As Shepard disembarked from the shuttle Sira was waiting to welcome her back on board.

"I see you brought a guest back with you." Sira mentioned gesturing to the Geth as it carted the crate with the Prothean data module out of the shuttle.

"Mhm." Shepard mumbled absentmindedly as she withdrew the crystal from its pouch and examined it once more. Her examinations where punctuated by Miranda's voice.

"Shepard, I wanted to talk to you about before." Miranda said quietly.

Shepard was about to respond to her when the hand holding the crystal suddenly went numb. Staring down in shock she found her hand swathed in crackling arcs of electricity emanating from the crystal. Try as she might she could release the crystal from her hand. The arcing electricity grew to a crescendo and the crystal shattered in Shepard's hand. The lights in the hanger immediately blinked out though for some bizarre reason Sira's hologramatic avatar remained intact. The hangar was suddenly illuminated by a plume of multi-coloured energy. The energy shot up towards the ceiling of the hangar and then abruptly stopped. It began to reform itself until it eventually resembled a humanoid shape. This shape gradually drifted down to the ground. Shepard found herself unable to move and completely mesmerized by the coruscating figure. It moved towards her and gently took hold of one her hands. The touch was vaguely warm and oddly gentle. It seemed to last for an eternity but in reality it was only a matter of seconds. The figure released her hand and left her only to move towards Sira. It seemed as though the AI was similarly enthralled as it was subjected to the same treatment. The figure eventually released Sira's hologramatic hand and moved on to the Geth. After repeating the procedure once more with the Geth it moved finally to Miranda.

While Miranda's body was utterly immobile Shepard could tell from the rapid darting of her eyes that she was beginning to panic. The figure took hold of her hand and remained that way for a long time. Eventually Shepard noticed that the figure was gradually becoming dimmer and dimmer while Miranda was beginning to faintly glow. Eventually with a blinding flash of light and a thunderclap the figure disappeared completely. The lights in the hangar flared back to life and Shepard stumbled as feeling abruptly returned to her limbs. Miranda was still staring perplexedly at Shepard.

"Miranda?" Shepard asked cautiously, "Are you alright?"

"I am not" Was Miranda's only response. Her voice no longer sounded the same. Instead it sounded more like a distant song carried on the wind.

"What do you mean? You are not what? Alright?" Shepard responded, confusedly.

"Shepard, Miranda is no longer registering as completely human. Her readings are registering as partly energy." Sira interrupted. "I think it's possible that the energy may have altered her in some way."

"Are you Miranda?" Shepard asked rephrasing her question.

"I am not." Was the only answer.

"What? Who are you?"

"I." Miranda or more accurately whatever was controlling her paused for a moment. "I. Was. A. Nyx."

"A Nyx?" Shepard responded with a frown. "I've never heard of your species."

"I. We. We are ended."

"You mean you are all dead?"

"Yes."

"When did this happen?" Shepard inquired, cautiously.

"When the Galaxy was bright. Before the Darkness." The entity was gradually beginning to become more familiar with Miranda's speech.

"What is this darkness? A plague? A war?" Shepard asked wilfully omitting the reason she feared most.

"I was afraid too Emma." The being whispered all traces of hesitation gone from the musical voice.

"How do you know my name?" Shepard asked suspiciously as her hand slowly made its way towards her pistol butt.

"Your weapon is unnecessary, sister. I intend you no harm."

"You still didn't answer my question." Shepard responded deliberately avoiding the odd familiarity with which it addressed her.

"The answer is the one that you fear. The Reapers were the darkness that swallowed the light of my race and left only ash in our wake."

"Were you a Prothean?"

"Shepard, she is not Prothean. She might have been from the race that came before us." Sira whispered as she moved to stand beside Shepard.

"Your metal twin is correct. We came long before the Protheans just as many species came long before us."

"What exactly are you?"

"I am a Nyx. Unlike you or the Protheans we have any energy based physiology. We generally encased our beings in a physical form to allow us to interact with the world around us. These vessels were usually blank templates but we could inhabit other sentient creatures."

"You're inhabiting a sentient creature and one of my crew right now. I demand you release her."

"I am afraid I cannot. If I did so I would cease to exist. I would prefer not to decompose." The entity responded politely. "Do not worry, the one you refer to as Miranda is still alive and intact. She will not be harmed in anyway."

"You are suppressing her personality, that isn't something she would want. Let her go. If you need a blank vessel then take me."

"That would have been exactly what I would have done Emma when I was in you position. Unfortunately you already share a mind with your metal twin and the metal man already has too many minds. Do not worry for I intend to coexist with Miranda."

"And what does Miranda say about this?"

"You would not believe me and you have no reason to believe me. I will return her consciousness to the fore as soon as we finish our conversation."

"Alright, I don't believe you but you've obviously gone to a lot of trouble to talk to us. Why did you call me sister and what do you know about the Reapers?"

"The Reapers were the ones responsible for my imprisonment. Millennia have I travelled with them. During the destruction of the last species before the Protheans the Reaper who had taken me was destroyed. I was cast down to the depths of a nameless world in a nameless wasteland. Darkness was my only companion and it was an old friend. The Protheans eventually found me in the debris. They had no conception of a Reaper. I could not reach them through my prison to warn them of the danger. I was taken and left on the world you call Ilos. I watched as they burned. Sira knows that pain."

Sira's mouth was agape at the being's revalation. The tale was a horrific mirror of Sira's own confinement.

"Once the burning was finished I was left on the planet until the machines returned. They were twisted and tainted versions of your metal friend filled only with hate. They found me but were ignorant. Then you found me and I had a hope beyond hope. You Emma. You stand where I stood all those years ago. I tried to stem the tide by myself and in the end all I did was become a trophy for the Reapers. They have the same fate in store for you. A place as a cog in the machine of death. That is what is at stake and this is why I must be by your side. Now I must go. I will return control to Miranda and I will endeavour not to take it from her unless she is willing."

"Wait. Before you go at least tell us your name."

"Persephone." Was the whispering response.

Miranda shuddered as the glow faded. A tracery of energy faintly rushed through her body before disappearing entirely. Miranda blinked and stumbled as she looked around her. Shepard rushed to her side and grabbed her arm and eased her down onto the deck. Miranda stared at Shepard in wonderment.

"I'm playing host to another mind?" Miranda stated dazedly.

The _Voice of Memory_'s four crewmembers had reconvened in the ship's infirmary following the drama on the hangar deck. Miranda was sitting impatiently on one of the room's diagnostic beds waiting for Sira to process her test results. The nameless Geth looked on as impassively as ever and Shepard proceed to pace around the room, her mind in turmoil. While Persephone seemed to be benign enough having an unknown alien being sharing Miranda's body and mind left Shepard uneasy. Miranda was enough of an enigma when she was human. Persephone's words left Shepard even more uneasy. Having the stakes of defeat at the hands of the Reapers driven home didn't exactly make the job of defeating them any easier. What made matters still worse was the fact that Shepard had no idea what to do next. She had a ship with almost no crew and an amorphous goal of stopping the Reapers coupled with the not unrelated problem of disappearing human colonies. Loath as she was to admit it she needed the intelligence resources of a major galactic power to plan her next move. Shepard's anxieties were interrupted by the arrival of Sira.

"Well Miranda, you seem to be remarkably lucky. You managed to survive being joined with a wholly alien lifeform." Sira announced with a smile.

"I'm not sure what to say. Is there any way we can be separated." Miranda asked cautiously.

"From my initial readings it would appear that you're inextricably linked. Even if I did know how to separate you I don't think you would be able to survive separately. Persephone appears to have meshed herself into many of your autonomic functions. If you were to remove her those functions would stop."

"You just seem to be a magnet for weirdness Shepard. I knew staying with you would be trouble." Miranda grumbled as she hopped off the bed.

"Are we sure that this actually Miranda and not Persephone acting like Miranda?" Shepard questioned.

"If you need more proof than her obvious attitude then I can confirm that Miranda has two entirely separate neural readings. One is suppressed and bears a remarkably alien structure while the other is obviously human." Sira responded.

"I still feel like me, Shepard." Miranda added.

"Just checking. Can Persephone take control whenever she wants?"

"That's the strange part, Shepard. She was very clear the first time when she took control that this would be the only time she would do it. In future I have to willingly surrender control to her."

"Well it certainly has been a long day. Sira, could you set our guest up with some quarters. I don't suppose you have a name?" Shepard concluded, addressing the Geth.

"We are Geth a mobile platform comprised of 1183 separate runtimes. An individual designator has been unnecessary." The Geth responded flatly.

"My name is Legion for we are many." Sira added, insightfully.

"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter V, verse XI. We acknowledge this is an appropriate metaphor and designator. We are Legion."

"While I'm disturbed that you both have such an intimate knowledge of Earth religion given that you're both alien AIs it is a suitable name and it sure beats calling you Geth." Shepard admitted. "Sira, why don't you see about billeting Legion in one of the machine shops? It would seem an appropriate residence."

Legion nodded his head in what seemed to be appreciation and then strode out of the infirmary with Sira at his side. Despite the total lack of verbal communication Shepard could sense the mechanical interchange between the two. Shepard turned back to Miranda was getting ready to leave the infirmary.

"Seriously, are you alright?" Shepard asked.

Miranda looked at her strangely and then seemed to consider for a moment.

"If by alright am I physically fine, the answer is yes. It's just.." Miranda paused for a moment, "When I woke up this morning I didn't expect to go to sleep sharing a consciousness with an alien."

"I suppose this must be quite a shock for you given your past."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miranda asked, her anger flaring at the insinuation.

"You're Cerberus and Cerberus doesn't like aliens or anyone who stands in the path of humanity."

"You know Shepard, if you had said that to me at any other time than right now I would have dismissed you as being another clueless drone of the system spouting its lies and platitudes rather than having to think."

"What's different?"

"I never really had to think about my position until now. When I was with Cerberus I was given a mission, a goal to complete. I knew what I was doing was right and there were a set of rules and parameters to govern my actions. What's more I knew who I was. Being with you, I've seen how you react to situations. You don't follow any kind of rules. There isn't any kind of order to what happens. Events happen and you, me and everyone around you get swept up in them. Look at today. I thought I was going on a simple recovery mission. The kind of thing I've done in my sleep a thousand times for Cerberus. By the end of it you end up disappearing. Geth appear out of nowhere and suddenly they aren't the enemy anymore. Then I end up hosting any alien lifeform for the foreseeable future. The worst part isn't that it happened but that I didn't have any control over it."

"So you don't want to lose control?"

"I'll disregard that attempt to use a simple answer for a complex problem. It isn't that I'm scared of losing control it's having to trust someone else. I've never been good with other people. I keep them at a distance and they keep me at a distance. Now, with you I have to depend on you and I realize you have to depend on me."

"I don't quite know what to say Miranda." Shepard responded in confusion.

"I'm not proposing marriage Commander." Miranda replied with the ghost of smirk, "I'm trying to apologize. I didn't quite realize what you were going through until now."

"Thanks, Miranda. It's good know you're watching my back. If you ever want to … talk about Persephone or how I'm handling the missions you only have to ask."

"Oh? I thought you didn't want me second guessing your command." Miranda added with a faint grin.

"And I thought you didn't have a sense of humour."

"It's a closely guarded secret. If you tell anyone I'll have to kill you. Just so you know. Seriously though, I appreciate the offer Shepard. I have a feeling that I might end up taking you up on it before to long."

"Miranda, I did have a question, about Cerberus."

Miranda's manner shifted from one of being open to completely professional in the blink of an eye.

"Certainly Shepard. What is it?"

"If I wanted to make contact with them how would I do it?" Shepard inquired cautiously.

"I thought you weren't going to have anything to do with Cerberus?"

"I realized after we had 'talked' on the shuttle that I wouldn't be able to manage without the help of some sort of intelligence organization."

"So you picked Cerberus over the Alliance because?" Miranda trailed off.

"If I reveal myself to the Alliance I stand a good chance of losing Sira, being debriefed and probably being dissected for 'the next revolution in medical technology'."

"I hate to say it Shepard but we stand to have the same thing happen to us if you contact Cerberus."

"So we're trapped between a rock and hard place?"

"Not necessarily. With Cerberus we stand the best chance of being able to operate independently. If we pass them intelligence they should pass us intelligence without us having to ever make contact. It would be a relationship of convenience nothing more." Miranda responded with startling honesty.

"So you're saying Cerberus was still be a defacto enemy?"

"So long as we remain assets then an alliance would hold. The moment either of us are vulnerable and disposable then Cerberus would waste no time in taking advantage of the situation. I've seen it happen."

"So we keep them at arms length."

"It still doesn't help us with a crew." Miranda pointed out with concern. "Despite the fact that Sira seems more than capable of controlling the ship without any crew I still think we need a crew if we are to stand any hope of surviving longer than a few months."

"You're right Miranda we do need a crew but somehow I don't think the Alliance will lend us a crew and with a Cerberus crew we stand a good chance of ending up with a knife in the back." Shepard mused.

"You had a crew that you trusted on the _Normandy_."

"I trusted most of them but I don't know where any of them are or whether they would be willing to give up their duty to the Alliance just to serve with me."

"I was thinking more of Councillor Anderson. He risked treason to help you. Surely he would be willing to assist you in some way."

"Councillor Anderson? At least they didn't completely ignore me. I suppose he might be inclined to do something for us. I'll see about getting in contact with him." Shepard finally concluded.

Miranda gave Shepard a quick nod and exited the infirmary. Shepard stood there for several moments considering her conversation with Miranda before heading back to her quarters.

As Shepard finished keying in the message for Councillor Anderson she congratulated herself on the message. Using the old Normandy's proof code would certainly catch the Councillor's attention. Now all that remained was to wait for a response. She had been sure to remain purposefully vague about her identity so as to avoid compromising her newfound anonymity.

She didn't have to wait long before her computer pinged with a response.

_To the Sender of this Message_,

_I will meet you on the Citadel on level 37 of the Wards. Signal your arrival with a blank message using the Normandy's proof code on the attached frequency._

_Andersen_.

As covert communiqués went the message was exactly what Shepard had expected. Getting to the Citadel was going to prove insanely difficult. As if reading her thoughts Sira flashed into existence.

"It isn't exactly going to be a cakewalk is it?"

"No, but then why should I expect any different?" Shepard grumbled. "I don't suppose we can bring the _Voice of Memory _into the Serpentine Nebula?"

"Surprisingly enough I think we stand a good chance of being able to slip in undetected."

"Reveal your plan to me O omnipotent AI." Shepard joked.

"You know flattery will get you everywhere Shepard. I propose that we deploy a drone with a false identity beacon which will read as a freighter with critical damage to its eezo core. We jump simultaneously as we clear the Mass relay we detonate the drone and engage our stealth systems." Sira finished smugly.

"The plan for getting in certainly will work but I don't know how you intend to dock with the Citadel."

"_I_ don't intend to dock. You can infiltrate with a boarding shuttle on the exterior hull. I even have an insertion point picked out for you."

"How is it that you know so much about the Citadel's security vulnerabilities?"

"Don't forget Shepard that it was the centre of Prothean government for several centuries. I have access to all the weaknesses that the Protheans knew of and I very much doubt that your Council races have improved on them."

"Touché Sira. We might as well set course for the Citadel. I'll go inform Miranda." Shepard paused for a moment, "How is Legion doing?"

"He is a remarkably unusual construct. The concept of multiple separate runtimes and the consensus based decision-making is certainly alien to me. I have always operated as a unitary program. By comparison it seems like a waste of resources."

"What about his loyalty?" Shepard interrupted, testily. "Is he likely to betray us?"

"I would consider it to be extremely unlikely. AIs don't go for half-measures or duplicity. We're either your enemy or your friend."

"Well it's good to know that he can be trusted."

"I see you have made progress with Miranda." Sira added with a knowing smile.

"And I see that nothing is private on this Ship. I suppose we have made some progress. Miranda seems to be questioning her loyalty to Cerberus. There certainly is more to her than meets the eye."

"Was that before or after she had an alien being join her?"

"I suppose the mystery has only deepened now that we've added Persephone to the mix. At least I'm not as worried about a knife in the back now. Miranda is just as much a pariah as I am now."

"Do you regret joining me?" Sira asked hesitantly.

"No. If you asked me if I would rather never have clapped eyes on the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime then the answer might be yes. I don't regret any of my actions since then, or yours for that matter. In a way you saved me from becoming a creature of Cerberus and for that I am grateful."

"I'll go notify Legion of our destination." Sira responded quickly, obviously embarrassed by the question and its answer.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: For your viewing pleasure the last Chapter of Symphony of the Damned: The Prologue. For all of you who missed it the reference in the title is to the sound of a Reaper. One of the dockhands on Eden Prime mentions to Shepard that the ship sounded like the shriek of the damned. What exactly it means I'll leave to you to decide. Despite there only being 3 reviews I have relented and posted an 800 word teaser for the next book. It's in the next chapter so enjoy!

Chapter XII

The _Voice of Memory_ hovered like a black spectre on the periphery of the mass relay leading into the Serpentine Nebula. Shepard had calmly positioned herself on the bridge waiting for the rest of her crew to join her. The potential for something to go wrong with the next step of the plan was astronomically high. Unfortunately the only thing to do was wait. Miranda had been characteristically cautious about the entire operation but had agreed to accompany Shepard on to the Citadel if only to watch her back. Legion had concurred that his presence would only make the situation more volatile and that he would remain behind with the ship.

A hiss of hydraulics announced the arrival of Miranda and Legion on the bridge. The assembled crew waited in complete silence as Sira piloted both the massive dreadnaught and the drone into the mass relay. Shepard felt the telltale distortion as the ship entered the relay's transit corridor. The only problem with the plan is that they could be spat out well in front of the drone making them a perfect target for whatever defence forces were guarding the gate. Their reaction to an unknown dreadnaught appearing in Citadel Space did not bear thinking about. Shepard merely gritted her teeth and tried her best not to think about that outcome. With a faint shudder the _Voice of Memory_ emerged from the transit. The complete lack of weapon impacts or threatening communication indicated to Shepard their ruse was working.

"We have arrived in the Serpentine Nebula. No ships have detected our arrival. It appears that our ruse has worked. We should reach your launch point in approximately one hour. We should also be leaving the system in about three hours." Sira reported.

"Why three hours?" Miranda asked in confusion.

"In three hours the radiation from the drone's detonation will have dissipated and the security forces will be aware that someone has played them for fools."

"The shuttle won't be detected?" Miranda pressed.

"No. It's configured for stealth operations and I'll be able to get you so close to the Citadel that no one should be able to detect you. The Nebula provides excellent visual cover."

"Well there's no sense standing here we had better get ourselves and the shuttle prepped." Shepard opined.

One hour later Shepard was aboard the shuttle dressed in simple civilian attire with the aim of attempting to blend in. A simple hood would cover her rather unique face with its visible cybernetics. The shuttle thumped as it made contact with the outer hull of the Citadel. The automated docking system went to work opening the hull of the station and within moments it was safe for Shepard to enter the Citadel. It certainly wasn't how she had imagined returning to the Citadel from her last mission, still it certainly beat not returning at all.

As Shepard stepped through the hole in the Citadel's hull she found herself in a deserted maintenance area. Miranda rapidly followed Shepard through and set to work rewiring the room's door for remote access and to prevent unwelcome guests from finding their shuttle. Shepard checked the shotgun that she had concealed under the coat of her disguise.

"Expecting trouble?" Miranda inquired without looking up from her bypass of the door's controls.

"Never hurts to be prepared. Besides two years is an awfully long time. Who knows what could have happened."

"The Citadel certainly has become a lot more paranoid. These security systems are even more complicated than the last time I was here."

"Were you participating in a clandestine meeting with a Citadel Council member that time too?"

Miranda snorted, "Hardly. That time I was meeting some underworld riffraff who needed to be shown the error of taking Cerberus' money and not carrying through on their end of the deal."

"How did it work out?"

"A total bloodbath. Pretty sloppy on my part."

"Somehow I suspect your definition of sloppiness and mine are vastly different." Shepard concluded as the door hissed open.

The two women stealthily exited the maintenance room and made their way towards one of the Citadel's many lifts. The lifts were considerably faster than the last time Shepard had been on the station and they had reached the concourse on level 37 of the Zakera Ward in no time. Stepping off the lift and into the bustle of assorted species Shepard and Miranda made slow progress toward the café which was their appointed rendezvous. The café appeared to be a relatively quiet coffee shop with few patrons. Shepard allowed Miranda to do the talking while she did her best to blend into the background. Miranda was able to secure a table in the back of the café for them which appeared to be safely out of the way of prying eyes. Now all that remained was for Andersen to show up.

Fortunately the councillor didn't take long to arrive at the café. He seemed to be quite comfortable with the café's asari hostess which implied that his patronage was a customary occurrence. The hostess directed Andersen toward Shepard's table. As Andersen approached Shepard rose to her feet and pulled back her hood. If Andersen was shocked by her changed appearance he hid it well.

"Captain Andersen it's been too long." Shepard remarked casually as she shook Andersen's proffered hand.

"Commander Shepard, I could scarcely believe it was you. To be honest I had my doubts right up until this moment."

"And are you convinced or do I have to recite my security clearances and run through my life's history?"

"No. The Alliance brass might demand that from you but I won't. Just tell me one thing and I'll be convinced. How did you get the Normandy back for the mission through the Mu Relay?"

"You hacked the ambassador's computer if I recall correctly and if my memory serves you also gave Udina a taste of the old fisticuffs. About time too I would have said." Shepard reminisced with a smile.

"Well that satisfies my concerns. What about your friend here?"

"This is Miranda, she's been with me ever since I came back from the dead." Shepard explained.

"Miranda Lawson? Your name has crossed my desk a several times in the last year. An agent of Cerberus is certainly interesting company to be keeping. Is she related to the whole coming back from the dead and the two year absence bit?"

"It's largely thanks to me that you and Shepard are having this reunion." Miranda interrupted.

"Look we can deal with my death and afterlife later. I need your help now."

"Of course Shepard. Is it that you want to me to get you back into the Alliance without questions being asked or a meeting with the Council?" Andersen added in a conciliatory tone.

"Unfortunately neither. I need a crew, preferably whoever's left from the _Normandy_ and then whomever you think is trustworthy."

"What do you need a crew for? And just what are you intending to do with them?" Andersen asked in confusion.

"The mission is still the same. Stop the Reapers and more importantly stop the abductions from the colonies."

"For that you would need a ship. It seems to me that the best course would be to get your Spectre status back and requisition a warship."

"We've got a ship all we need are the crew."

"Look Shepard, I've kept an eye on the Mass Relay's traffic over the past day. There haven't been any warships or any unusual ships passing through the relay."

"Let's just say that I've recently come into possession of an antique dreadnaught and I need a crew, and leave it at that."

"Shepard there's no such thing as an antique dreadnaught. The only dreadnaughts that aren't the property of a space faring race are Reapers and I pray you don't have one of them."

"It, is a she and she isn't a Reaper. She isn't a threat to any of the races in Council space."

"Alright Shepard. I've taken a lot on faith with you and you've come through for me. I'll see if I can get some of your old crewmates reassigned for extended leaves or dismissed from the service but it isn't going to be a long list. Especially for a dreadnaught."

"At least it'll be a start." Miranda noted.

"Shepard, about the colony disappearances, the council has concluded that they've been the work of pirates and slavers."

"But you don't think so. You think it has to do with the Reapers." Shepard finished for Andersen.

"Yes. I want you to look into it for me. You won't have council sanction or Alliance backing but if you have a dreadnaught you shouldn't need it. I'll try to funnel you information through the back channels."

"Is it just me or do there seem to be a fair number of C-Sec milling about outside this café?" Miranda interrupted.

As Shepard glanced up from the conversation she realized that Miranda had been right. A number of C-Sec officers had taken up positions outside the café and were doing their best to look completely innocuous.

"Andersen?" Shepard hissed.

"I swear I didn't sell you out, but the Council or the Spectres may have been monitoring incoming transmissions and flagged yours."

"Dammit! I thought you had some privacy with your position." Shepard grumbled.

"You know perfectly well that the Spectre's authority supersedes anyone's privacy especially if it involves one of their own."

"Shepard, we need to get Andersen out of here without being seen. If he's caught with us then he'll be compromised and may even be stripped of his title." Miranda whispered.

"Is there another way out of here? A back entrance you can slip out of?"

"Yes, I think there is one through the kitchen."

"Miranda, get Andersen out the back way. I'll leave through the front and try and give our minders the slip."

Andersen looked as though he was about to say something but Miranda simply got to her feet and took his arm. Miranda hustled the councillor out through the kitchen door leaving Shepard alone in the café. Pulling up her hood she left a credit chit on the table and walked straight through the front door. The C-Sec officers noticed her leaving but rather than moving in to arrest her they kept a discreet distance. If Shepard had to guess she would suspect that they were waiting for a quiet place to take her in to custody or they had only been ordered to shadow her. The second prospect implied that there was a Spectre somewhere on the level waiting for her. The problem was that the Spectre could be almost anyone. Shepard felt herself beginning to perspire as she increased her pace towards the elevators. While the confined space of an elevator would be the last place she would want to trap herself she had no choice. The lifts were the only way back down to the shuttle on the outer hull.

As Shepard reached the elevators the C-Sec officers continued to hang back which confirmed her suspicions. Punching the button on the lift Shepard attempted to appear nonchalant as she waited for a car to arrive. The lift finally arrived and thankfully no one else was waiting to board. It appeared as though she would have the lift to herself. As Shepard stepped aboard the lift she was joined by a large looking Turian. The Turian boarded the lift without a word and ensconced himself in the rear of the car. With no choice, Shepard had to stand at the front of the lift. The elevator's doors hissed shut and it began its downwards journey. Shepard's hand also began a downwards journey towards the butt of her shotgun. As her hand found the comforting grip Shepard glanced back at the Turian. He looked completely bored but for all she knew it could be an act. Shepard glanced back at the descending numbers of lift. In another few seconds the lift would reach its destination and the Turian would make his move. The numbers continued to tick down as Shepard eased the weapon into her hands. The lift came to gradual halt as Shepard tensed up. She knew that she had to act or risk the Turian getting the drop on her but somehow she couldn't reconcile the chance of killing a perfectly innocent person. As the elevator's doors opened Shepard moved like a woman in a dream. She gently moved back from the door allowing the Turian to leave. The Turian left without even glancing at her or the shotgun she had clutched in her hands.

Shepard let out a gasp of relief as she jammed the weapon back into its holster. The life of a fugitive did not sit at all well with her. For as long she could remember she had faced her enemies face on. They had known her and she had known them. Now she was forced to suspect everyone around her. Shepard stepped off the lift and glanced around her. The corridors were deserted. She moved at a rapid jog back to the maintenance room. Checking the door revealed no signs of tampering. For a moment Shepard allowed herself to hope that the C-Sec officers had given up the chase. As Shepard stepped into the maintenance room the silence was broken by the soft snick of metal on metal. It was a sound that Shepard knew well. Shepard froze.

"Stay perfectly still." A soft voice murmured from behind her. "Pull back your hood and turn around. Slowly."

Shepard did as instructed and found herself staring at the business end of a standard issue Spectre pistol. The Spectre behind the weapon was a youngish looking Asari. Though with Asari gauging their age from a glance was almost impossible. The Asari was totally unfamiliar to Shepard but it was safe to assume that she was a member of the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Group.

"Spectre Emma Shepard." The words were a statement rather than a question. The Asari seemed to consider her for several moments. Shepard was perfectly content to consider her opponent rather than speak. Eventually the Asari broke the silence.

"Shepard, you are to report to the Citadel Council for immediate debriefing." The Asari finally intoned.

"I suppose that's an order rather than a request and you're here to make sure it happens." Shepard conjectured.

"You assume correctly. The Council and the Spectres as a whole are very interested in what you've been doing for the past two years." The Asari stated in a no nonsense tone.

"And if I decide to leave without giving a debriefing?"

"That isn't about to happen."

The two lapsed into silence once more as Shepard began to consider her options. If she moved in either direction she had little doubt that the Asari would shoot her. The only chance she had would be to use her biotics and hope that her barriers would hold. Shepard allowed her mind to drift into focussing her biotics and away from the present moment. The Asari didn't notice what she was doing until it was much too late. Shepard enveloped the Asari in a dark energy field and hurled her across the room. As the Asari was slammed into wall the Shepard's hands were already dragging the shotgun out of her coat and aiming towards the Asari. The only problem was that the Asari had hauled herself up from where she had fallen and had opened fire with her pistol. With a curse Shepard dove through the open door and back into the hallway leaving the Spectre between her and the shuttle. Unfortunately Shepard wasn't quite quick enough and as she was about to duck behind the door jamb her barriers flared and died completely. One of the Asari's rounds grazed the meat of Shepard's calf causing her stumble as she took cover. Shepard grimaced as she pressed her hand to the wound. Shepard's pant leg was already soaked in blood and after sparing a quick glance at her enemy she rummaged in one of her coat's pockets for the medigel applicator. Yanking the hypo free she quickly ripped her pant leg open and pressed it to the wound. Sighing in relief Shepard blinked. Her vision was beginning to swim in a way that couldn't be explained by the blood loss. It stood to reason that the Asari had been using poisoned rounds no doubt coated with a tranquilizer or paralytic. Shepard's mind quickly arrived at a plan. The Asari would no doubt expect her to be going unconscious from the effects of the poison and that could provide the perfect opportunity for Shepard to get the drop on the Asari. Shepard was reasonably sure that her nanites could compensate for the effects of the toxins.

Snapping off another round at her tormentor Shepard waited until the Asari had fired off another round before groaning and slumping to the ground. With her back pressed to the door jam, her right hand and shotgun were hidden from the Asari's view. She quickly flipped the weapon so that she was holding the barrel. In its new position the weapon would make an excellent club. As Shepard closed her eyes and played dead she could hear cautious steps approaching her. Shepard felt a gentle nudge from the pistol and remained completely still. With any luck the Asari would assume that she was unconscious.

"It was a good try Shepard but my rounds were coated with a paralysis agent not a sedative."

As Shepard opened her eyes she found the Asari staring at her from a sitting position. It appeared as though the Asari was going to wait out Shepard's ruse. Shepard released her grip on her shotgun and eased herself into a more comfortable position.

"I'm impressed with your technique Shepard. Most humans depend on a hand motion to utilize their biotics but you just willed them into being. You also don't look the same as your file photos."

"I thought blue was in this year." Shepard joked in an oblique reference to her visible nanites.

"Your humour will only get you so far Shepard."

"True but in the times that it doesn't it helps to have other assets." Shepard grinned as she released the sonic grenade she had been holding in her other hand. She only had a view moments to enjoy the surprise on the Asari's face before the grenade went off. The high pitched sound was enough to disorient most species and it was shear luck that Shepard's augmentations allowed her to ignore the grenade's effects. The Asari however was not so lucky and had keeled over clutching her ears. Shepard sprang to her feat and snatched the pistol away from the Asari. As the grenade's effects began to dissipate Shepard pointed the weapon at the dazed Asari. For the first time in the entire fight Shepard finally had the drop on her enemy but she knew that the tables could turn once again.

Fortunately it seemed as though Shepard's luck was changing as Miranda rounded the hallway's corner with her pistol drawn.

"Get on board. Quickly!" Shepard yelled.

Miranda darted past Shepard towards the shuttle as Shepard slowly backed towards the shuttle's docking hatch. The Asari stared at Shepard but remained perfectly still.

"You never did tell me your name." Shepard remarked as she backed across the threshold from the Citadel to the shuttle.

"Senni Vensa. Remember that name Shepard and don't think I won't be following you." The Asari yelled back at her.

Shepard palmed the door controls sealing the shuttle from the station and cutting off any other rejoinders the Asari had to offer.

Shepard blew out a sigh of relief and made her way up to the shuttle's cockpit. Miranda had already pre-flighted the shuttle and looked questioningly up at Shepard.

"Who was that?" She asked as she detached the shuttle from its docking umbilical leaving it attached to the station.

"An old co-worker. Did you get Andersen to safety?"

"Of course. The C-Sec officers seemed more interested in you. You do know that they're probably aware of Andersen's involvement."

"I know but this way he can claim plausible deniability. He was just meeting us in order to convince me to return to the Citadel and when he found out he couldn't he went to alert the Council."

"I like the way you think Shepard." Miranda remarked as she piloted the shuttle back towards the _Voice of Memory_.

"We still need to get out of here undetected and with the added impediment of the entire Citadel fleet watching the Mass Relay." Shepard added.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. I have already plotted several relay jumps to throw off possible pursuit." Sira supplied as her holographic avatar appeared in the shuttle.

"Good work Sira. Leave as soon as we dock."

Miranda efficiently brought the shuttle back to rest in the _Voice's_ docking bay and Shepard felt the telltale thrum of the engines as the dreadnaught accelerated.

If Shepard had been aboard one of the Citadel defence ships she may have seen the massive elongated form of the dreadnaught tear through the clouds of the nebula on a course for the relay. Sira had abandoned all pretence of stealth in an effort to clear the relay as quickly as possible. The surprise was so total and the dreadnaught so unknown that not a single weapon was even trained on the retreating ship. The _Voice of Memory _reached the relay and disappeared in a flash of light.

Little did Shepard know, that already, grim conclusions were being made at the highest levels of galactic government. Conclusions about a rogue Spectre and her mysterious dreadnaught. These were also conclusions informed by the actions of the very same Spectre against another rogue agent and his mysterious dreadnaught.

A/N: Yes, the council thinks that Shepard and Sira are the next Saren and Sovereign duo. The real question is are they right or are they wrong?


	13. Teaser

Teaser

A/N: This is a short excerpt from the next story. Be warned that it will be rated M for Mature and not for the reason you think.

"Hello Liara. It's been a long time." Shepard finally managed.

Liara went rigid at the sound of her voice. There was complete silence marred only by the sounds of Nos Astra. Liara slowly turned around to face Shepard. Her face was a mask of suspicion, distrust, and naked emotion at seeing her former lover. The emotions warred across her face for several moments before settling into a combination of denial and disbelief.

"You can't be here. You're dead. I saw you die. I saw your corpse." Liara stated in shock as she sank into the chair at her desk.

"I was dead. Cerberus brought me back though I don't how."

"I should have known this day was coming. They said it was only a slim chance so I tried not to hope. Now you're here and I don't know what to do anymore."

Shepard's heart was afflicted by the same set of doubts. What could she say after an absence of two years that wouldn't sound hollow?

"You promised me your eternity Shepard. Do you remember, on the Citadel after we had gone through the conduit? You broke that promise." Liara whispered, accusatorily.

Shepard opted for a delaying tactic. So long as they were in this office Liara was in danger. At least back on the shuttle or better yet with Sira, Shepard could keep an eye on her. The question was whether or not she would come.

"Liara your life is in danger. I've come to get you out of here. We've got to move now though."

Liara's eyes narrowed in suspicion. The suspicion wasn't directed at her surroundings but centred squarely on Shepard.

"So that's their plan. To lure me out with a ghost of the past so that I can be done away with and my body dumped into the bowels of Illium never to be seen again."

Shepard's eyes widened in shock. Liara's last statement sounded like the rantings of someone in the grips of clinical paranoia. Shepard had never known Liara to be paranoid and in fact she had been the opposite when Shepard had known her.

Liara didn't give Shepard any chance to consider her next words as she drew a very menacing looking pistol from her desk and pointed it squarely at Shepard. When Shepard had risen that morning she would never have dreamed of staring down a gun held by her former lover. The situation had gone from normal to completely surreal in a matter of minutes and less than ten sentences. Liara didn't say another word but instead depressed the weapon's trigger. Shepard's instincts took over and she dove for some office furniture.

The weapon did not make the customary sound of a weapon discharge but instead sounded closer to a gentle hiss. As Shepard took cover behind a large potted plant she noticed a tingling in her shoulder. Feeling around she found three metallic objects had lodged themselves in her shoulder. Yanking one free with a silent curse and gasp of pain she found a small cylindrical object in her hand. It was a dart containing some form of chemical. Her nanites quickly informed her that she had been exposed to a significant quantity of sedatives. While the nanites could compensate for the dose in her system any further impacts would impair her motor functions and eventually result in unconsciousness.

"Shepard? Still awake?" Liara taunted from behind her desk.

Evidently being an information broker had had an adverse effect on Liara's sense of trust and sanity as a whole. Shepard didn't bother to respond and instead waited until Liara had emerged from behind her desk and had begun to make her way over to Shepard. As soon as she was close enough Shepard sprang from her cover and grappled with Liara. A telltale tingle in her stomach let her know that she had been shot again. Luckily, in the ensuing fracas that pistol ended up being thrown across the room. Shepard narrowly dodged a punch from Liara before being tripped, causing them to fall in an untidy heap of limbs. As the two rolled across the floor chairs and tables were over turned. The fight took them progressively closer towards the fallen pistol with Shepard eventually coming to rest astride Liara's stomach. Before being able to snatch the pistol Liara seized a hold of Shepard's braid and dragged her head down into a searing kiss. Shepard blinked in confusion, the pistol totally forgotten. As Liara released Shepard from the lip lock she delivered a swift head butt sending Shepard reeling off her and into a chair. This was all the opportunity Liara need to seize the pistol and put two more rounds into Shepard's shoulder. Shepard's vision began to swim as she felt herself going limp but she was sure that she saw Liara smile before she went completely unconscious.


End file.
